Bloodless Coup

The Family Stone

As I was telling Baltar last night, there can be utterly conventional movies that are still interesting, honestly sweet and oddly captivating, even if you know from the first frame what'll hapen. To me, last year's In Her Shoes was an example of that movie. You know the journeys the two main characters would take. But the acting, the way it was shot and, most importantly the script worked in ways that led you to really care and be interested in those people. In contrast, The Family Stone was perfectly dreadful. You saw every, and I mean EVERY, turn a mile away because of the heavy-handed direction, and most of the action was hopelessly under-explained (when it was not just random or plain stupid). If I think about this movie too long I'll just get mad. So I'll let it suffice to think it's a real shame when a talented cast decides to waste their time on such a ridiculous, insipid and poorly constructed script. There's predictable you buy and that moves you. And then there's simply rehashing cliches in a short-hand that doesn't remotely work. The Family Stone is the latter - avoid it if you see it in a dvd store near you.