The Family Stone [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

RRP Lowest New Price £7.96

20th Century Fox Release date: Tuesday 17th of October 2006 Starring: Claire Danes, Rachel McAdams, Dermot Mulroney, Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Director(s): Format: AC-3, Colour, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC, Region code: 1 Running time: 103 minutes Language: English (Original Language) Language: English (Subtitled) Language: Spanish (Subtitled) Language: English (Dubbed) Language: French (Dubbed) Language: Spanish (Dubbed)

A different kind of Xmas Family gathering
Review date: 2007-12-06 Rating: 8 out of 10

What happens when the son brings home for X-mas a girl he wants to marry and the family thinks her utterly unsuitable for him and the family? Well this movie answers your question.

Legendary and Oscar winning Diane Keaton as Sybil Stone is the outspoken matriarch, wo survived a bout of breast cancer and has recently fallen ill again, keeps the family together and presides over it.

Sarah Jessica Parker as Meredith Morton is the stiff businesswoman and control-freak girlfriend with a throat-clearing tick who annoys the members of the Stone family. Sarah Jessica Parker may have risen to stardom as one Carrie Bradshaw in the award-winning Sex and the City, but the actress proves her versatility as an unsympathetic character in this movie.

As usual during a Family X-mas a lot of all year hidden family trouble comes up and is exposed. Partly it is quite funny, partly annoying and partly over-done: does the gay son have to cover as well the handicaped (deaf) and the radicial bit (partner is a black American)?

But still it is entertaining and funny and emotional. I like the second Xmas reunioon after Mother Stone has passed away. The photograph showing Sybil Stone pregnant with her baby-daughter Amy, which Meredith gives to everyone as a Christmas present, is an original photograph of Diane Keaton and is very very very nice feature of this movie.