Introduction
Welcome to my corner! Last week, I shared my thoughts about the film Eloise at Christmastime. This week, I'll be reviewing the films, The Family Stone and Happiest Season. Enjoy!
The Family Stone
The Family Stone is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Thomas Bezucha. Produced by Michael London and distributed by 20th Century Fox, it stars an ensemble cast, including Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Dermot Mulroney, Sarah Jessica Parker, Luke Wilson, Claire Danes, Rachel McAdams and Tyrone Giordano.
Plot: Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) wants to bring his girlfriend, Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker), to meet his bohemian Connecticut family at Christmas. Straitlaced Meredith, feeling she needs backup, asks her sister Julie (Claire Danes) to come along. Hoping to win the approval of her boyfriend's parents Sybil (Diane Keaton) and Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) and the ret of the family, instead Meredith succeeds only in highlighting her uptight personality and making Everett doubt his intentions.
I knew absolutely nothing about this movie before watching it. I didn't even read the little plot summary before playing it. All I knew was that it was listed in the holiday movie section, so we watched it. That may have been a mistake on my part.
I find no faults with the acting. The Family Stone is a pretty star-studded film, so the acting was never going to be an issue.
The Family Stone is listed as a comedy-drama, but I'm not sure where the comedy is. I don't think I laughed once while watching the movie. However, I did cry, and not because of a character death like I normally would, but because of the way most of the characters treated Meredith (Parker).
Before Everett's (Muroney) family even meets Meredith, they already dislike her, and don't seem very open to the idea of that changing. From the get-go they treat her horribly and find any reason to find fault in her actions. No matter what she does, she's wrong in their eyes. They hate her. Because of this, all of Everett's family members try to convince him not to propose to her, which was his original plan.
He brought her home to meet his family for Christmas specifically to ask his mother for the family ring that was promised to him when he got married. Everett's mother Sybil (Keaton) refuses. And their treatment of Meredith doesn't change until the last maybe 20 minutes of the movie. Somehow, the family, including Everett, treats her worse after HER sister Julie (Danes) arrives. For whatever reason they all love Julie but still hate Meredith's guts.
The themes explored in this movie are supposed to be about family, togetherness, love and accepting faults... Again, I'm not sure where that is. It seems the message got lost somewhere, because if this movie was supposed to be about accepting a person's faults, then they massively failed.
Unless you want to be depressed for the holidays, I would just skip The Family Stone.
Happiest Season
Happiest Season is a 2020 American romantic comedy film directed by Clea DuVall, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mary Holland. Starring an ensemble cast consisting of Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Daniel Levy, Mary Holland, Victor Garber, and Mary Steenburgen.
Plot: Meeting your girlfriend's family for the first time can be tough. Planning to propose at her family's annual Christmas dinner - until you realize that they don't even know that she's gay - is even harder. When Abby (Kristen Stewart) learned that Harper (Mackenzie Davis) has kept their relationship a secret from her family, she begins to question the girlfriend she thought she knew.
Another holiday movie about acceptance and being true to yourself... My feelings for Happiest Season are very similar to The Family Stone. Although, if I had to watch one of them again, it would be Happiest Season.
Again, the acting isn't the problem. Some of the characters are a little over the top, but I think that's more to do with how they were written than how they were acted. Stewart's acting has improved since Twilight, but her facial expressions still leave a bit to be desired. Dan Levy is easily the best in everything.
Abby and Harper are happy together before family Christmas. Once they are around Harper's family, they are no longer a couple, but roommates because Harper hasn't told her family she's gay. In order to keep up appearances, she decides to put off telling them until after the holiday. You can just imagine how well this plays out.
Similar to Meredith in The Family Stone, Abby is not treated very well in Happiest Season, even by her significant other. I rooted for the couple at the beginning, but it didn't take me long to switch sides and hope that they would break up. The family treats each other like crap and therefore can't treat outsiders any better.
Happiest Season is not a holiday movie I would recommend for joy.
That's it for this week! What were your thoughts? Feel free to share them with us! You can call us, email us, visit us at the office, leave us a comment or message on Facebook, or even mail us something. Keep the comments, suggestions, questions, submissions, etc. coming our way! We'd love to hear from you!
