The Family Stone
Fox 2000 Pictures | Release Date: December 16, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
15
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
PremiereRachel Clarke
The Family Stone may not be super-serious or even, well, sly, but none of that matters: this is a warm and engaging film that is sure to become a perennial Christmas favorite. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Keaton, a sorceress at blending humor and heartbreak, honors the film with a grace that makes it stick in the memory. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Parker has a great time being the anti–Carrie Bradshaw while Keaton-as-matriarch is a particular joy -- funny, beautiful, elegant, touching, and at ease with a familiar, get-out-your-hankies holiday subplot. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Silly at times, leaning toward the screwball tradition of everyone racing around the house at the same time in a panic fueled by serial misunderstandings. There is also a thoughtful side. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
As stuffed with beguiling performances - some of them unexpectedly good - as its script is overstuffed. And though even the beguiled may feel manipulated the next morning (or when hitting the exits), the players put it over by a nose. Happy holidays. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
A satisfying, big-hearted celebration of diversity that will brighten holiday moviegoing. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Indie director Bezucha has held on to just enough individuality to breathe a little life into the cliches. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This is the best adult holiday film in a while. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
As ridiculous, as mawkish and schizophrenic as The Family Stone is, it's also surprisingly endearing. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A film that's at times as ragged and shaggy as its family unit. But as written and directed by Thomas Bezucha, its offbeat mixture of highly choreographed comic crises and the occasional bite of reality make for an unexpectedly enticing blend. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The potential for moral confusion in a liberal-minded family -- unpacked so ruthlessly in Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale" -- is scrutinized with more ambiguity in this good-natured comic subversion of the holiday get-together. Read full review
70
SlateDavid Edelstein
The performances are delightful, and the picture comes together. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
There are just too many damn characters, with the best ones taking a backseat to the dullish love quadrangle. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The slapstick weeper The Family Stone is a lump of coal brightened by four diamond-sharp performances. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A machine-tooled entertainment that's as fake and flimsy as a plastic Christmas tree. The only reason the movie isn't as bad as it has a right to be is the marvelous Diane Keaton. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The movie is a holiday romantic comedy that wants to put the holiday romantic comedy out of business. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
The Family Stone should have been a glittering holiday bauble along the lines of the irresistible Love Actually. Instead, Bezucha stuffs into our stockings what he thinks is good for us. It's not coal, but it's not entirely what we were hoping for, either. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Popped in the oven and marked with a predictable P, The Family Stone is the Christmas cookie of Christmas movies -- this thing is so pat it should come with the recipe attached. Read full review
60
EmpireGenevieve Harrison
Although in danger of being unable to decide what kind of film it wants to be, a well-written script and well-judged performances make this a family outing worth taking. Read full review
60
Film ThreatMichael Ferraro
Luke Wilson has done some of his best work in dramatic roles (see "The Royal Tenenbaums" for clarity) and while he is not playing an entirely serious role here, his performance is still the most engaging. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
If there was ever a testament to the resilience of actors, in the face of a flawed script and wonky direction, The Family Stone is it. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
In place of the dysfunctional family Christmas story we've come to expect for the holidays, The Family Stone gives us a cheerfully uncensored, generic counterculture clan and tosses a tightly wound control freak into the center of their holiday celebration. Read full review
50
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Lurching uncertainly from slapstick to tears, The Family Stone works hard to warm the cockles of our hearts. The cast is attractive. The sentiments are commendable. But the love Bezucha wants us to feel for the family couldn't possibly compete with the love they already feel for themselves. Read full review
50
VarietyJustin Chang
Keaton embodies the formidable Stone matriarch with an offhand sense of humor that cuts like a knife. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
A potentially interesting tale flailing haplessly in the quicksand of holiday-movie formula. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
Spends too much time on unconvincing romantic-comedy contrivances to be consistently engaging. Throughout the uneven film and its mixed bag of performances, the compelling point of focus is Diane Keaton's smart, funny, spot-on natural portrait of the formidable Stone matriarch. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
Parker is pretty much a disaster here, shrill and phony and, worst of all, spineless. She reminded me of Tea Leoni in "Spanglish," her performance working against the movie, serving only as a cumbersome, opaque obstacle. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Could we please declare a moratorium on funny-sad movies about dysfunctional families, especially families that come together for the holidays? Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The women make The Family Stone, especially Ms. Parker, whose nimble performance is reason alone to see the film: not since Philippe Petit has anyone walked a tightrope with such finesse - and in high heels, no less. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The talented and quirky-pretty Sarah Jessica Parker gives an excruciating performance. It's a keenly self-conscious caricature - the bold, showy kind that often wins awards yet sends audiences running from the theater. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Almost totally emotionally bankrupt. But it's a very specific form of total emotional bankruptcy, one that feels honest and even uplifting at the time, because the actors are great and the direction's well intentioned and just-so. Read full review
40
Village VoiceDennis Lim
It's hard to fathom why anyone would voluntarily endure a holiday family reunion movie -- a genre devised solely to demonstrate how grotesque and how heartwarming families can be--when actual holiday family reunions already exist for those very reasons. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Most of it falls on Bezucha, not just for devising these monstrously cruel characters, but for putting them in situations that are far too serious to be resolved by Christmas morning. When the melodrama gets too intense, the film collapses in slapstick. Read full review
30
Washington PostStephen Hunter
There are many ways to define the shrieking awfulness of The Family Stone, from the general lack of wit to the cheap exploitation of cancer to its casual cruelty, but it's writer-director Thomas Bezucha's casting that really goes awry. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Bezucha made something perverse, a feel-bad holiday film about a repellent family, with a milquetoast dad and a smug, devious harpy of a mom. Read full review
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