The Family Stone

Synopsis:

Everett Stone, who made it on Wall Street, returns home for Christmas with his new girlfriend, Meredith Morton. His ultra-liberal, anti-conventional rustic Connecticut family doesn’t exactly warm to the outsider, who despite her best efforts to please the prospective in-laws, looks, sounds, and acts like the conservative bigots they hate, while various Stones have their own problems. Only matriarch Sibyl Stone’s unshakable maverick other son Ben gives her a chance, and as Everett won’t actively turn against either, she feels more supported by him and a weird romance blossoms. Feeling beleaguered, Meredith calls in help from her easygoing sister Julie, who proves no help to her but soon develops a chemistry with Everett, so everything may now shift if they dare follow their hearts.

Quick Thoughts:

Overall, I actually enjoyed watching “The Family Stone”. The premise follows a rather common and overused Christmas film trope: “someone brings their fiancee home to meet the family and chaos ensues”, but throws us an unexpected twist in that the siblings effectively swap their partners over the course of a few days! Additionally, the ensemble cast is well written and balanced without losing the viewer amid the craziness. (As often happens, like in another film on this list!) But it’s the cast’s superb acting that takes this Christmas film to another level – wow!

So why is yet another great film on the list? Because the only queer characters are Thaddeus and Patrick, one of the brothers who is gay. And partially deaf. AND in an interracial relationship. It’s almost as if the writers realised they needed to add variety to an otherwise cis heterosexual caucasian family – but decided to dump it all into just two minor characters that end up coming across more like the writers were trying to tick boxes off a list rather than create balanced characters. As such, “The Family Stone” is only a KINDA queer Christmas film – even though it’s quite enjoyable to watch!