B+

Very good film with a terrible marketing campaign, the ending has it moments that were meh(slapstick scene with McAdams, Keaton, and parker made me think what the fuck, but overall I liked it alot.

Decent film with good performances by all involved. Craig T. Nelson was fantastic. It's nice to finally see him in something decent after such a long hiatus because he's a great actor. Succeeds in spite of its obvious attempt to be politically correct when doing the opposite would actually have been more humorous.

Grade - B+

bloody brilliant

As I said in my review, I knew KJ folks would like it a lot.

Good movie with fantastic performances by the entire cast. The subject matter was very heavy handed, and the marketing was terrible but overall the movie was quite decent.

The biggest problem with the film is that it bounces from comedy to being very heavy handed. The subject matter is intense but handled fairly well.

B+

A-

The marketing team behind it should be fired.

THE FAMILY STONE - 9/10 (A-)

A funny, warm and touching comedy-drama that I absolutely loved. It perfectly balances the amount of comedy and drama to create a completely engrossing and moving story. The characters are all fascinating and really likable, and the performances were some of the best of the year. Every single cast member stood out and there wasn't a single weak link. Easily one of the best ensemble casts of the year so far. Rachel McAdams's performance as Amy Stone was the highlight for me (obviously), starting off the film as cynical and hilariously unkempt but showing her true heart near the end. Diane Keaton was also great and it was impossible not to love her character. A lot of the emotion in this film was handled with facial expressions and not dialogue, and she handled it brilliantly - switching from humorous to heartbreaking at the drop of a hat. Claire Danes was really cute in a supporting role and made a nice addition to the cast. Sarah Jessica Parker was hilarious as the uptight Meredith - especially when she finally loosens up (in a hilarious sequence). Dermot Mulroney was likable and showed he could actually handle dramatic material with a scene near the end. Craig T. Nelson was great and Luke Wilson was hilarious in a subdued yet effective performance. This is also the perfect film to get you in the Christmas spirit and I highly recommend that everyone sees it before the holidays. I know it won't be as effective if it isn't seen at this time of year. A lot of people may criticize the ending because it seems a bit unrealistic, but I felt it was the perfect closure. It was awesome too how Rachel was the focus for the final shot! Anyways, I'll try to write a more "professional" review later on, but I highly recommend this film. One of the best of the year.

Really, they were hitting the crack pipe hard when coming up with the campaign on this one.

Any film that features people slipping on food, I automatically don't want to see.

Each year, over 200,000 Americans are severly injured in food related falls.

Please, do your part and spread awareness for this truly awful and easily avoidable accident.

http://www.foodfalls.com

That scene really could have been done differently and I didnt like it, but to highlight that in the trailer. This has to be the most mismatched campaign I;ve seen in along time, and it was a bad campaign.

I disagree and was exactly how I guessed it in Lecter's thread. Maybe tommorrow I will go in there and see the spoilers and other discussion from that thread.

- also in my TFS - Rumor Has It poll, TFS blew rumors away so most were impressed with the trailers.

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- First of all it was a holiday movie which usually has good and bad times - anyone ever catch It a Wonderful Life - doesn't have only wonderful times.

- Then it showed the couples and the attractions toward the other people.

- The Diane K thing was fine as we always have had tragic comedies, etc.

- and besides the people of KJ, the people in my theater were laughing at these scenes as this was a good, probably not great movie.

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maybe more to come later.

As Loyal said, the marketing team should be fired. The only difference is that he enjoyed the film a lot, and I could barely sit through it at the end.

This wasn't anywehre near what I was expecting, and therefore it turned out to be a gigantic disappointment. This is nowhere being a comedy, like the marketing made it out to be. That's the reason why I didn't like the film. It couldn't make up its mind on whether it wanted to be a comedy or a drama. Instead there is an unbalanced and uncomfortable mix between the two.

Here are my main problems with the film.

- Rachel McAdams: What an absolute waste of a perfectly good actress. She is there just to be the bitch. Her character isn't explored anywhere outside of her hatred of Meredith.

- Gay Dinner Table Sequence: I know it was supposed to be awkward, but it's not needed. The only reason why it's there is to get Meredith to leave the house with Luke Wilson's character so that side of the story could be furthered along.

- Everett and Julie: How long have they known each other? Two days? Yet they magically fall in love. Everett not being in love with Meredith I could see happening, but not that relationship.

- Diane Keaton: Another waste of a great actress. Her plot element wasn't needed at all except for Everett's feelings towards Meredith, and so that everyone could cry at the end.

What a disappointment this film was.

C

From the trailers, I didn't expect a comedy ( that is more what I am expecting from Rumor Has IT ), I expected a holiday movie that involved the families and relationships with some slapstick.

Didn't anyone get when Luke Wilson saw Parker walking down the stairs and got smacked or DM expression when Claire Danes got off the bus.

^
Nope

It was marketed as a dumb comedy.

I probably would've disliked it even more if it turned out to be a dumb comedy. I don't know, I guess with a cast like this I was expecting an intelligent dramedy (Somewhere between Meet the Parents and Sideways). It just didn't do it for me.

OK, I just didn't read as much about it as I was sold based on the trailer - and that is where I picked up my pre-movie ideas about what to expect.

It is not there just for the heck of it. Look up the only movie the director of TFS has done before this and you shall know more


But, folks, didn't I tell you this was falsely marketed?

Anyway, looking at the poster and the diamond ring, seeing the trailer interaction between the 2 couples and reading the following from the opening of your first post of your old Family Stone poster thread > Not sure how people can say it was mis-marketed.

You said this was the plot > "The Stone family unites in common cause when their favorite son brings his uptight girlfriend home for the Christmas holiday, with plans of proposing. Overwhelmed by the hostile reception, she begs her sister to join her for emotional support, triggering further complications."

I could have given a much more elaborated plot of course.

no that was enough to goes to show that the marketing was correct but people didn't comprehend what the movie was going to be about as the trailer, plot summary and poster laid out.

The fact that the Family Stone even leads to a comparison to Rumour Has It suggests the marketing campaign was off. RUmour has It isbeing markted as a stright comedy, the trailer is all laughs. Yes, there are funny moments in the Family Stone, but the movie is far more serious then the trailers suggest, and the movie really isn;t about Mulroy propsoing to Parker, that's almost a side plaot. The centrla story to the film is the Keaton dying. When I see a trialer that focus on people laughing, I don;t think to myself, hmmm, main character is going to die of breast cancer.

Hey, naybe I am the only one, but TFS was marketed like Meet the parents, the only reason I expected anything different was because I heard spoilers about the film suggesting it was more serious then that.

OK, but for me maybe it is because I don't have a big connection with someone dying and I have seen it in other movies. I thought that was a way to show how close and connected the family was and there love for Keaton.

Also the strong Nelson character was as much the powerful leader in the movie for the family. Look at how he controlled his family scenes and even went around to apologize for the family.

Think both Keaton / Nelson were great at leading the family.

Even the couple of serious talks that the family had, talking the All in the Family approach, they were so out there, I thought it was more showing what a different kind of egg Parker was and how they were wrong for each other. DM even made the point during one of them > what are you trying to say?

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Lastly, I think a big part of the film was Parker and flying / not flying her freak flag and how she come out and in the second half of the movie she was wearing her hair down which showed her as a totally different person.

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As I guessed the partner switching from the trailer, I was watching that part with most interest > so to me this was a romantic, holiday movie with some laughs, serious parts about a close knit family during the Xmas time. In my mind, confirmed by seeing that poster with the wedding ring of the type of movie that I was going to be seeing.

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In ending, I don't want to fight, just for me, I just had a different impression of the film and I was concentrating on it from another way.

I loved it, all of the performances were fantastic. The best ones come from Diane Keaton and Rachel McAdams. The story was light-hearted fun, with a bit of sad material thrown in. Definitely recommended, one of the best of the year.

9/10 (A-)

I agree with you, in fact I really liked the film, i just think that anyoen who merely show the trialers would be expecting something else. we movie geeks read about films an dknow other things going in, and the partner switch was obvious, but the more serious undertones like Keaton's illness, they were such a big force in the film, in fact all decision made by the Stone children in this film are in some way driven by keaton's impending death, it gvies the film a much more serious tone then Meet the Parents...that was missing from the marketing. From the marketing I felt like this was a comedy competing iwth Rumour Has It, when really its a good drama with some nice light hearte dmoments that did a good job balancing that.

I think a better marketing campaign could have gotten more people in the theater, b/c if people expect ocmedy adn get something else this can lead to bad WOM, when this is a really worthwhile film.

lately holidays movies have been all funny, Christmas with the Kranks, etc. so yes there is a history of more serious hoiday films like Its a OWnderul Life, but Hollywod does make those all that often, instead we get Home Alone, and that bad ben Affleck movie no one saw.

I think people should see it, I was really surprised, Dermut Mulroy actually acts, which he never does, his scene at the end iwth his mom, he always been so blah for me before.

Good flick, go see it people.