The Family Stone -- A Torn & Babbling Review

Muh wife and I went to see The Family Stone the other day.

I am extremely torn on this movie... I was asked the other day by someone that I work with if I liked it or not.

My answer keeps swaying.

Without giving anything away about the plot, the movie focusses on a large family that is growing and learning to change. They are a brutally honest bunch of folks and they must deal with the reprocussions of their honest discourse when they are forced to deal with a horrible new girlfriend and a tragicly sad event that faces the family.

It is this former that adds so much fantastic comic relief to the film. Rachel McAdams is truly a wonderful actress and makes me laugh and reminds me of so many of my artsy, down to earth friends while Luke Wilson is good in just about anything he does. Even though I can't stand Sarah Jessica Parker, she is perfectly cast as the annoying new girlfriend that is truly a horrible person to many levels.

I laughed out loud. Some of the scenes were truly funny because they were done so well and were not contrived.

Then...the serious stuff started to kick in and I was ready to reach for a gun to shoot the whole family. Craig T. Nelson (that's right... of COACH fame) was wonderful and I can't give too much away but he is great in his role as his wife played by Diane Keaton, who I will always love...forever... (I love her in everything she has ever done.), was too. Too bad that what they were acting was such contrived and predictable crap.

The sad stuff was just soooo contrived and predictable that I wanted to kill the writer, but I was torn as he was the same writer that had me laughing and cringing at some truly natural and charmingly funny scenes.

Argh...even as I write this, I am still torn.

I just wish the movie and writer would have decided to be either a comedy or a tear jerker... just pick one and run with it.