FC Barcelona Sport

I had a pretty dang good childhood and I have a great relationship with my parents and my siblings, I really don’t know how to get through life without them; this is why I cannot figure out why I love Home for the Holidays so much. This film is about a hugely dysfunctional family. Tommy & Claudia get along fabulously but Tommy’s still secretive, and neither of them gets along with their sister. All in all, this is a family that proves you can be blood and not know one another at all.

However, there is a heart behind this film that is sorely lacking in other dysfunctional family films. Granted, I just watched The Family Stone but that’s the first dysfunctional family film that pops to mind – everything that I think the characters and Stone family are missing in that film Jodie Foster was able to include in Home for the Holidays. There is a heart in this film that drives the story and in the end these characters are totally likeable and a much truer depiction of a real family and their problems.

Watching this film again I do genuinely think part of the reason I love it so much is the relationship between Claudia and Tommy. These siblings love one another in a way that I can relate to because I have a relationship like this with one of my brothers. At the beginning of the film Claudia is devastated by what’s happening in her life and grief-calls Tommy and leaves a message on his machine laying everything out and telling him she misses him and doesn’t know what she’s going to do without him coming home for Thanksgiving. In the middle of the night Tommy shows up claiming that he didn’t get Claudia’s message but that his sales job dropped him in the neighborhood so he decided to spend the holiday with them. Durring the climax of the film Tommy reveals that he did come home because of Claudia’s message and when their sister rips Tommy and his life style apart the scene in the kitchen when Claudia and Tommy console each other still moves me.

Like Drew Barrymore did with Whip It, Jodie Foster proves that actor/directors tend to have the ability to get phenomenal performances out of their actors. This is not a bubbly, light hearted film, but I do think it’s a film that should be watched and enjoyed.

Adele: I'm giving thanks that we don't have to go through this for another year. Except
we do, because those bastards went and put Christmas right in the middle, just to
punish us.

Meredith Morton & Everett Stone are a socialite couple in Manhattan, but when Everett takes Meredith home for Christmas she clashes with his family so badly that Meredith refuses to stay at the house and calls her sister Julie in to help her out. While Everett tries to convince his mother to give him his grandmothers engagement ring so he can propose to Meredith the rest of the family becomes more and more sure that Everett & Meredith should not get married.

The Family Stone is a film I really wanted to see because of the cast. There are great actors littered throughout this film and all of them are actors that I enjoy greatly. However, I was very disappointed in The Family Stone.

While watching The Family Stone I got the impression that the film thought it was a quirky comedy with a slightly dark underlining. However, I almost didn’t get through more than half an hour of The Family Stone because the film is downright angry and depressing. These characters are really horrible people. Without any explanation more than one or two lines of dialogue you find out one character dislikes Meredith and the rest of the Stone family (who has never met her) immediately begins to hate on her. After about half a movie of being a really boring person Meredith turns out to be downright insulting and continues to say really horrible things to members of the family or scream at people. Not a single character in this film is developed or likeable. The only reason I watched the entire film is because I felt the need to see if possible the ending redeemed the film. It doesn’t.

The ending of the film is almost worse than the rest of the film. It’s a complete and total cop out. Again the writing and direction leave much to be desired. Rather than finding a way to motivate all of our characters into their conclusion a few lines of dialogue are delivered about couples breaking up, other couples share longing looks and then we flash to the next Christmas where all the issues are magically resolved and we’re never told how or why.

No family real or fictional can solve the kind of problems the Stone family had that Christmas in the course of twelve months. It’s just not possible, especially after the rest of the film built up nothing but an intense hatred for Meredith.

I know I’ve probably insulted a ton of people that absolutely adore this holiday movie and think I’m completely wrong in my analysis. To those I say this: can you tell me why these characters deserved an hour and half of my time?

Director & Writer: Thomas Bezucha
Julie Morton: Claire Danes
Sybil Stone: Diane Keaton
Amy Stone: Rachel McAdams
Everett Stone: Dermot Mulroney
Kelly Stone: Craig T. Nelson
Meredith Morton: Sarah Jessica Parker
Ben Stone: Luke Wilson
Thad Stone: Tyrone Giordano
Patrick Thomas: Brian J. White
Susannah Stone Trousdale: Elizabeth Reaser

Meredith: What's so great about you guys?
Sybil: Uh, nothing... it's just that we're all that we've got.