Fun, Entertaining, and VERY Predictable. This christmas based romantic comedy made me miss my own dysfunctional family. The Family Stone can be enjoyed by all. Luke Wilson was hilarious. Claire Danes looked great and Diane Keaton made this family. You'll laugh, You'll Cry, and you might want to call your Mom after watching this.

I watched this movie not remembering anything from when it was released, couldn't recall what the trailers contained so I had no idea what it was about. The way the wife was setting it up, I was expecting a kind of _Royal Tennenbaums_. I was glad she was wrong. While I think there are a lot of elements in this movie that don't work, the majority do. Of course, per the new requirement, you had to have the happy gay person. But they worked and you liked them more than anyone else in this movie. I'm not sure why we are supposed to think that Everett is considered the black sheep of the family. The movie did not set this up very well. Everyone in the family can not stand Meredith when she is with Everett. After the dinner scene where she insults the entire family and the gay community, you would think they were done with her. But by the end of the movie when it's the next years Christmas and she has switched her love to Ben, suddenly she's OK? I just didn't see the transition. Of course Amy has to fall in love with ambulance boy too. I was a little surprised they didn't play up Sybil's illness a little more. Maybe the directior was trying to keep everything a little light and keep this mostly as a comedy but I'm sure they could have elicited a few tears with a well writting scene involving her passing. Not that it needed it but you do get really attached to her during the movie, especially after she stuck up for Patrick and her son during the awkward dinner scene. Overall, I did enjoy it. There is enough here to entertain and Luke Wilson probably steals the show. He's no Baldwin brother ;)