My Utile Center

One of the surprise films of 2005, The Family Stone successfully navigates the often tempestuous waters of big screen family dramas. Quite often these types of family relationship films get lost in a deluge of dialogue, conflict, and argument. And although The Family Stone has plenty of the aforementioned, it hits the audience in manageable doses with well-placed comic relief and an unforgettable cast of eccentric characters. Written and directed by up-and-coming Hollywood talent Thomas Bezucha, the film is a mosaic of fun, laughter, sadness, and family relationships most people will find charming and endearing…

The Family Stone examines the vibrant relationships of the Stone family, a close-knit traditional nuclear family gathering for the holidays. Sybil Stone (Diane Keaton) and her husband Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) host their children for the holidays, but as with most families, conflict is abundant. Sarcasm, backstabbing, blame, and jealousy are evident in almost every encounter, but ironically, so are love and respect. When eldest son Everett (Dermot Mulroney) brings home his current girlfriend Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker) to meet the family, her business-like demeanor and uptight mannerisms clash with the rest of the family, particularly Everett’s vindictive sister Amy (Rachel McAdams). Despite Meredith’s best efforts, the only family member she can impress is Everett’s laidback brother Ben (Luke Wilson).

Meredith’s discomfort is compounded when she inadvertently makes a bigoted remark about Everett’s homosexual brother Thad (Tyrone Giordano), garnering the wrath of the entire family. Pushed to her breaking point, Meredith moves from the house to a nearby bed and breakfast, while Everett struggles with the idea of proposing to a woman his family obviously dislikes. Meanwhile, Ben helps Meredith to come out of her shell, and Meredith enlists the support of her younger sister Julie (Claire Danes) to smooth things over with the Stones. But the holidays take an interesting twist when unexpected relationships blossom and an unforeseen event takes its toll on the entire family…

The Family Stone certainly succeeds in creating a number of dynamic multidimensional characters, but it fails in a couple respects. The most obvious is the relationship switch that eventually takes place and is quite evidently in the making from the opening scenes of the film. One brother stealing another’s girlfriend is not in-and-of itself unbelievable, but the continuation of a normal relationship between the two brothers is. No awkwardness there? No jealousy? Plot twists are great, but keep them realistic…

The other aspect of The Family Stone that stands out is a bit more peripheral and makes the film teeter on the precipice of Hollywood cliché. Meredith is portrayed as an uptight homophobic bigot in need of a cure, while the Stone family is free-spirited and in touch with their feelings. In the end, Meredith grows because of her proximity to the Stones, but the Stones don’t learn anything from Meredith. It’s probably not a coincidence that Meredith’s views might be construed as conservative, while the Stones’ views are considered liberal (i.e. conservative evil, liberal good). This same theme was prevalent in Meet The Fockers when Robert De Niro’s character learns the error of his uptight ways and engages in the hippie lifestyle of his daughter’s new in-laws. But, of course, the Fockers never learn anything from De Niro… Not necessarily a movie killer, but a cliché nonetheless. Despite the flaws, The Family Stone is still a decent film. Above par dialogue and outstanding performances by a strong cast make it time well spent. Many moments will make you laugh; others will remind you of your own family…

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of The Family Stone (DVD).

We have just spent the like six years or so in the midst of a reality TV craze. It seems like every show that came out was a reality show. While I am glad they seem to be dying down finally there is one kind of show I wish I got to see, Corporate Reality TV. Am I the only one that would have been interested in this type of show?

It is clear this could never happen because no company would ever agree to allow themselves to be put on national TV. Not only would their competition look for important information they typically dig through dumpsters to find (don’t laugh, it happens) but we would also get to see just how ridiculous corporate America really is.

I happen to be in management for a large international insurance company. I am confident that the majority of companies out there operate in a very similar way to my company. I am a front-line manager so I am still the one listening to the orders. Upper management holds meetings and conference calls constantly. They always ask us to spend more time with our people when they end the fourth conference call of the day.

I have been in my current position for approximately eighteen months. I do not recall being on one conference call that was of any value. I know for a fact that these conference calls are not effective because I spend the majority of the call emailing my peers who are also venting to how useless the call is.

If you really look around your place of employment you can see just how many things would be comical to a viewer from the outside. A recent example that comes to mind has to do with the newest push to encourage “diversity”. I do not think this is a joke if it is handled properly, especially my company that is 80% white people. We just passed Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. My company, who has never celebrated it before to the best of my knowledge, suddenly required every office to have a contest on who could have the best MLK Day celebration. We were asked to take pictures and submit them to upper management to pick the winner for the contest. Here is the best part, they would not reveal who the winner was to anyone but the winning office, and they did not reveal the prize. These are the types of things I think would be extremely enjoyable to watch on TV. Whose brilliant idea was this whole thing? If it is that important, why wouldn’t you publicly honor the winning office rather than keeping it a secret? My guess is that they really had no intention of picking a winner or offering a prize. I think they just said that to get people to do something for this holiday now that diversity it the hot topic.

Sometimes I would also like to see just how the butt-kissing chain works from an outsiders view as well. How does anything get done when all people do is kiss their supervisor’s butt? I am not and will not ever be a butt-kisser and this clearly has an affect on my career.

There are so many dynamics that exist in the workplace. Rather than watching some has-been celebrities trying to learn to ice skate maybe Fox can pull off this idea and we can get some real entertainment on the boob tube.

Scott Bianchi operates http://www.best-internet-bargains.com. He writes on a variety of topics. If you would like to be added to his distribution list for his new articles when they are published just send an email to articles@bestinternetbargains.com.