Family Stone

Theatrical Release Date: 2005 12 16 (USA)

UPC: 024543234029

Studio: 20th Century Fox

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:[Adult Situations, Adult Humor, Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drug Content]

Summary: A woman meets her future in-laws and discovers they don't much care for her in this comedy from writer and director Thomas Bezucha. Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) is a successful young businessman who is dating Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker), and has asked her to spend Christmas with his family, with plans to ask his mother, Sybil (Diane Keaton), for the titular family wedding band and propose to Meredith on Christmas Day. Meredith is more than a bit nervous about meeting Everett's folks, and things only get worse when they arrive -- Meredith is by her nature straight-laced and a bit uptight around strangers, while Sybil and family patriarch Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) are free-thinkers who, except for Everett, have raised a family of cheerfully rebellious children, most notably younger daughter Amy (Rachel McAdams), older brother Ben (Luke Wilson), and adopted sibling Thad (Tyrone Giordano), who is both deaf and gay. Meredith and the Stone family do not get along well at first, especially Sybil, who is appalled at the prospect of Everett giving Meredith the family's heirloom wedding ring; in dire need of moral support, Meredith asks her younger sister, Julie (Claire Danes), to join her for Christmas with the Stones. However, the plan runs into a snag when Everett's head is turned by pretty Julie, and Meredith finds herself on the receiving end of attention from slobby Ben. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Comedy Drama

Awards: Best Edited Feature - Comedy or Musical – American Cinema Editors Guild Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical – null Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: ccAudio commentary by stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Dermot Mulroney
Audio commentary by writer/director Thomas Bezucha, producer Michael London, editor Jeffrey Ford and production designer Jane Ann Stewart
6 deleted scenes with optional writer/director and editor commentary
Fox movie channel presents casting session and world premiere
Behind-the-scenes featurette
Q&A session with the cast at the screen actors guild theatre
Outrageous gag reel
"Morton family strata" recipe & more!

Family Stone

Format: DVD

Release Date: 05/02/2006

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 103 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Family Stone
1. This is Meredith [:26]
2. Main Titles [1:09]
3. Home [1:25]
4. All About Mereidth [2:23]
5. You Have Nice Shoes [2:55]
6. Separate Bedrooms [1:23]
7. All Hail! [2:43]
8. Lantau Island [1:57]
9. Fourth Word? [1:39]
10. Wish I Were Different [2:06]
11. Of Course You Do [2:33]
12. She Called Her Sister? [2:04]
13. Grandma's Ring [2:01]
14. Who Else Knows? [:28]
15. Julie [3:20]
16. Dinner [4:04]
17. Freak Flag [:42]
18. A Hole in His Heart [4:58]
19. Brad Dance with Me! [1:34]
20. Apologies [2:00]
21. Ben's Dream [7:44]
22. A Merry Little Christmas [:17]
23. Here We Go [2:29]
24. Try It On [4:06]
25. Something for Everyone [:26]
26. The Bitch from Bedford [1:22]
27. Strata [2:04]
28. Sorry for Everything [1:09]
29. Stay [3:30]
30. Repeat the Sounding Joy [2:52]
31. A Very Good Tree [4:37]
32. End Titles [:29]

Derek Armstrong

The good news? Sylvester Stallone never makes an appearance. The bad news? After some early indications it might do so, The Family Stone doesn't break the mold for holiday family dysfunction movies. However, it does end up being a pretty satisfying version of one. Writer/director Thomas Bezucha has clearly studied what other films in this genre have done well -- and, more importantly, what they haven't done well. Bezucha really has his holiday fruitcake and eats it too, concocting zany scenarios that never test the patience of viewers justifiably wary of this sort of thing -- viewers who were disappointed with Jodie Foster's Home for the Holidays, for example. It's the details of Bezucha's writing that surprise, such as the casual fact that one of the Stone sons is both deaf and gay -- a plot element that steadfastly avoids becoming a hot-button contrivance. Another curveball: Bezucha places this family in a wintry storybook world out of any small town, then makes them unrepentant liberals, who sanction intergenerational pot smoking and talk with whimsical earnestness about wishing they had more gay children. Of course, it would be foolish to discount how the talented cast helps sell the material. Any time the movie threatens to careen off course, it's propped up by Diane Keaton's passionate matriarch, Rachel McAdams' eye-rolling baby sister, or Luke Wilson's goofy layabout, always cementing their familial bonds through believable chemistry. Less probable support comes from Craig T. Nelson as the affably passive dad, and even Sarah Jessica Parker salvages the film's most exaggerated character, the frosty conservative who infiltrates their latter-day commune. Bezucha stumbles by milking the final scene for way too long, but The Family Stone still gets the balance right for a superior multiplex holiday offering -- unpredictable enough to be funny, familiar enough to be comfortable, touching enough to be sentimental. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Michael London  Producer 
Jennifer Ogden  Executive Producer 
Thomas Bezucha  Director 
Thomas Bezucha  Screenwriter 
Michael Giacchino  Composer (Music Score) 
Sarah Jessica Parker  Actor 
Luke Wilson  Actor 
Dermot Mulroney  Actor 
Claire Danes  Actor 
Diane Keaton  Actor 
Rachel McAdams  Actor 
Craig T. Nelson  Actor 
Elizabeth Reaser  Actor 
Tyrone Giordano  Actor 
Brian J. White  Actor 
Paul Schneider  Actor 
Jamie Kaler  Actor 
Savannah Stehlin  Actor 
Robert Dioguardi  Actor 
Christopher Parker  Actor 
Carol Locatell  Actor 
Michael Pemberton  Actor 
Jill Remez  Actor 
Ginna Carter  Actor 
Gus Buktenica  Actor 
Ron Wall  Actor 

Country: USA