An uptight, conservative businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life.
When attending their son's college graduation, a couple reignite the spark in their relationship. But the complicated fact is they're divorced and he's remarried.
Everett Stone, who made it on Wall Street, returns home for Christmas with his bride Meredith Morton. His ultra-liberal, anti-conventional rustic Connecticut family doesn't exactly warm to the outsider, who despite her best efforts to please prospective in-laws looks, sounds and acts like the conservative bigots they hate, while various Stones have their own problems. Only matriarch Sibyl Stone's unshakable maverick other son Ben gives her a chance, and as Everett won't actively turn against either, she feels more supported by him and a weird romance blossoms. feeling beleaguered, Meredith calls in help from her easygoing sister Julie, who proves no help to her but soon develops a chemistry with Everett, so everything may now shift if they dare follow their hearts.Written by
KGF Vissers
Writer-director Thomas Bezucha tips his hat twice to what appears to be his favorite holiday film, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). The main title sequence ends by zooming into the postcard image, which then segues into a live- action version of the same landscape, a device Vincente Minnelli used to launch into the first scene of the MGM musical. Later, Bezucha shows Susanna (Elizabeth Reaser) watching the Christmas Eve ball scene from Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) on television while Amy (Rachel McAdams) slumbers in her lap, and this leads to a three- minute sequence depicting each of the characters' Christmas Eve comings and goings while Judy Garland's rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" plays in its entirety. See more »
Goofs
When Ben is telling Meredith not to dilly dally, his shirt is outside of his pants. Then when he is talking to Everett it is tucked inside his pants. See more »
Quotes
Sybil Stone:
[Susannah goes upstairs to her mother's room, tiptoes inside and takes her shoes off, she then climbs on the bed and spoons with Sybil, who then awakens... she turns around and puts her hand on Susannah's cheek lovingly]
Who else knows?
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Count on Me
Written by Jesse Barish
Performed by Jefferson Starship
Courtesy of The RCA Records Label
By Arrangement with SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT See more »
I totally agree with The Unemployed Critic that the trailers (and the poster) for "The Family Stone" are misleading, and ultimately an insult to the film. My husband and I are cinema addicts, but the trailers convinced us that we could live without another silly and predictable "clash of family cultures" movie. Fortunately the good-to-glowing reviews in American and Australian papers encouraged us to at least give the film a chance. We were rewarded with great writing and acting, lots of laughs and some tears. "The Family Stone" was my favourite of the many movies we saw over the Holidays -- but we almost missed out on it, due to bad Marketing.
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I totally agree with The Unemployed Critic that the trailers (and the poster) for "The Family Stone" are misleading, and ultimately an insult to the film. My husband and I are cinema addicts, but the trailers convinced us that we could live without another silly and predictable "clash of family cultures" movie. Fortunately the good-to-glowing reviews in American and Australian papers encouraged us to at least give the film a chance. We were rewarded with great writing and acting, lots of laughs and some tears. "The Family Stone" was my favourite of the many movies we saw over the Holidays -- but we almost missed out on it, due to bad Marketing.