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The Family Stone is a 2005 American comedy-drama film, produced by Michael London and released by Twentieth Century Fox.

Synopsis[]

Meredith Morton, an uptight, workaholic businesswoman, is on her cell phone in a store, and her fiancee Everett Stone is buying a gift for his sister Amy. He takes her phone and hangs it up. In the Stone family home, mother Sybil sort of sadly staring out the window as her son Thad and his boyfriend/life partner Patrick drive up in their Range Rover. Thad and Patrick come in and Sybil gives Patrick a hug, sneaks up on Thad, who is hearing impaired.

Next to arrive is Amy, who pulls up in her beat-up Volvo, which matches Kelly and Sybil Stone's maroon Volvo wagon in the driveway. She is dressed sort of haphazardly and her stuff falls out of her bag, to her irritation. A similar reunion takes place inside the house, where sister Susannah and her daughter Elizabeth are also there. Brother Ben has not arrived, as he has missed the first two flights from San Francisco.

Amy begins telling the family about her dinner in New York with Everett and his girlfriend, Meredith, whom she describes as awful, uptight, and horrible. Meanwhile, Everett and Meredith pull up in his Saab. The family sees them through the window, where a visibly nervous Meredith is sharing her apprehension with Everett. They are dressed very formally, whereas the rest of the family is looking very bohemian.

Dad Kelly goes outside to help them with their things, and Meredith has to duck out of the way as Kelly and Everett embrace. The family inside snorts. Meredith tries to shake Kelly's hand and awkwardly hugs her. They go inside, where everyone embraces Everett and the uncomfortable Meredith is in the middle of it all, again trying with the handshake of Sybil whom she says has a lovely home. Meredith keeps shouting at Thad even though it's not necessary. Everyone else knows sign language (Meredith doesn't). Little Elizabeth remarks that Meredith has nice shoes. Amy hardly acknowledges Meredith's Merry Christmas.

Up in Everett's bedroom, Meredith refuses to share a bed with him in his parents' home. Everett asks that she sleep somewhere else, and she takes Amy's room; Amy isn't very happy about that, and she and Sybil make that clear. Meredith, moving her stuff in, is aware of their displeasure, but isn't getting a lot of help to rectify the situation. Then her sister, Julie, calls, and Meredith tells her that they all hate her and that yes, she is being herself. Ben shows up, where his mother informs him that there will be no pot in the house this year.

They go to get pizza and Meredith tells the endless and boring story of how they met before the family settles in. Later on they play charades. Amy accuses Meredith of pointing at Patrick who is African American, to indicate the fourth word in her clue, 'The Bride Wore Black'… basically calls her a racist.

At bedtime, no one is happy. Mom and Dad discuss that Everett will ask for the ring at some point and she doesn't want to give it to him for Meredith.

The next day, Meredith comes to the kitchen where Sybil is, leading to apologies and awkward tension. Amy then enters demanding coffee, causing more tension. Sybil tells Amy that a local man is still in town and likes her, and tells Meredith that Brad Stevenson popped Amy's cherry which Amy doesn't like. After Sybil leaves, Meredith attempts to make small talk with Amy to no avail. Finally Meredith loses it and asks her what it was that she ever did to her, to which Amy says nothing but smiles smugly. Meredith announces to her that she doesn't care if she likes her or not. Amy says, "oh, sure you do."

While the gift exchange takes place in the kitchen, Everett asks his mom for her mother's wedding ring that she promised him awhile back when he was dating someone she liked better than Meredith. Long story short, she doesn't want that woman wearing her mother's ring so she says "no". This is the beginning of Everett being very angry.

Meredith decides to check into the local inn after the incident, where her younger sister Julie will be joining her, forgoing Christmas with her own family. It is at this point where Everett loses his patience with his dysfunctional family. He gathers the group together, and declares that their behavior will now change. They can't believe he's serious, and when Amy tries to smart off again, he slams his fist down and shouts that they will pull their fangs out and be nice. He then storms off after telling them that they better get used to Meredith because she's important to him. They are off to the inn, but not before Ben extends the olive branch in the form of coffee in Sybil's favorite mug, and also telling Meredith that he had a dream about her last night. He doesn't get to tell her what the dream was.

After the inn, Meredith is somehow back at the house. Susannah, who is very pregnant and emotional, goes upstairs where Patrick has informed her that her mom is taking a nap. Her mom rolls over when Susannah gets in bed with her. Susannah tearfully asks Sybil "who else knows?"

Ben and Dad Kelly are seen at the local football field, smoking dope. They have a pleasant conversation when Ben asks what's up with mom, and Kelly acts like nothing is going on. Ben insists that its obvious that she is sick, again, and finally Kelly admits that it's true and that the prognosis is not good. Ben gets upset and they go home.

Meanwhile, Thad and Everett are shopping in town for an engagement ring. Thad tells a disbelieving Everett that he shouldn't marry Meredith. Back at home, Meredith is bonding with Patrick in the kitchen. They are making the Morton family Christmas morning breakfast item. Everett and Thad are going to the bus stop to meet Julie. Julie gets off the bus and Everett is enamored. Julie then falls as she gets off the bus. Back at the house, the family LOVES Julie. Loves. The greeting that you would expect Meredith to get. They are in the kitchen, where Ben walks in and hugs Sybil and is emotional, and Amy wants to know whats wrong and they all pretend nothing is wrong. Everyone is asking Meredith why she put mushrooms in the breakfast item because Everett is allergic and she freaks out; everyone is also attending to Julie's cut knee. Meredith takes over and takes Julie upstairs to fix the cut, and is clearly aware that everyone likes Julie and hates her still.

Later, everyone is having Christmas Eve dinner and making pleasant conversation about Ben and Julie's work, when the conversation turns to Patrick and Thad's attempt to adopt children. Meredith asks them if they care about the race of their child, as Patrick is black and Thad is white. They say that they don't care what color it is, they are happy to be getting a kid. Then the talk turns to them being gay, and Sybil (very strung-out on the pain/cancer medication she is taking) remarks that she wishes all three of her sons were gay because then they would never leave her. Clearly uncomfortable, the conservative Meredith asks Sybil point blank if she was serious about wanting all three of her boys to be gay, because "why would a mother wish that on her children?". The tone of the conversation takes a serious and troubling turn, when Meredith tries to understand why Sybil would wish for her kids to have a difficult life of being gay when it's hard enough for all of them "being normal". This cynical remark quickly takes the conversation on a downward spiral, when Everett doesn't help her explain what she means, and Sybil yells at Meredith followed by Kelly yelling more. Meredith responds by leaving the dinner table and running outside to the Saab. Before Julie can try and stick up for Meredith, Sybil shouts at Thad that he's "more normal than all the other assholes at the table".

Meanwhile, we hear Meredith unsuccessfully trying to leave the Stone family home, with the Saab hitting a shrub, then a tree. Julie starts to go help her, but Ben volunteers to go outside. When he asks Meredith what the problem is, she bursts into more sobs, and he takes her to a bar, where they get drunk on Dos Equis beers. Ben informs Meredith that she really needs to relax. Ben tells her that deep down she is a freak, she just doesn't let her flag fly. She drinks some more beers. She picks a song and sits back down, getting more drunk.

Everett has lost his appetite. Later, when he can't reach Meredith, he decides to go and look for her, accompanied by Julie. They go for a walk and talk about life. Everett is clearly taken with Julie.

Back at the bar, in walks Amy's son, Brad Stevenson, and his ambulance-driving partner Dave. Meredith makes the Brad connection, and demands they join them for beers. Julie and Everett bond some more. He is clearly unfulfilled and has lived the life he thought his family wanted him to live and be perfect and that has not entailed him living his life the way he has wanted to. Now Meredith's song comes on. She makes Brad dance with her and invites him to Christmas morning. She is now disheveled and wasted, and says it would be really great if they could get some pot to smoke and asks if Ben knows where they could get some.

Julie and Everett walk back to the inn, where there is no Meredith. Everett invites Julie for a cup of coffee, but she tells him that she can't do that, presumably because Meredith is her sister.

Meredith and Ben are now drunk and in the Saab outside where Ben tells Meredith that in the dream, she was a little girl shoveling snow, and that he was the snow and she was scooping him up.

Back at the inn, Julie is in bed reading when Kelly comes in, wanting to apologize to Julie and to Meredith for what happened at dinner. Back at the house, Everett walks in, and Sybil apologizes. He tells her that he doesn't believe that she is sorry. Kelly comes home and Sybil tells him that Everett is super pissed. She tells him that she is scared of a lot of things, but mostly that he's getting married for the wrong reasons and she wont be around for it anyways. She slightly opens her blouse to reveal scares from a double mastectomy and Kelly kisses her. Everett tries to call Meredith, she doesn't answer because she is sleeping on Ben's shoulder in the Saab.

The next morning is Christmas Day, and Susannah and Elizabeth want to open stockings. Meredith wakes up, realizing that she is in Ben's bed and he is in the shower. She freaks out, especially when Kelly knocks at the door to see when he came home. He finally walks in to find Meredith in Ben's bed, then walks out, shocked.

Downstairs, Everett is working on coffee when Sybil comes in and gives him the ring. He remains pissed, when a shell-shocked Kelly walks in and is tossed out by Sybil. More talk about wanting Everett to be happy, when Sybil drops the illness bomb again (implying that her cancer is advanced and will not recover), and Everett has a breakdown. Then Julie comes in, and somehow in the scenario Everett asks her to try on the Stone ring, which she then can't get off her finger. Chaos ensues, and Julie is upset, but no one understands why. Then in walks Meredith; when Everett asks where she's been, she lies that she just got there. The ring chaos continues, and Julie and Meredith go into the bathroom to get the ring off. Then it all spills out. Meredith thinks she slept with Ben, Julie tells her that the ring is her wedding ring and she says something like "that's it?"

Brad shows up and Amy is angry with Meredith for inviting him. Brad explains that they are all gathering to open presents in the family room.

Things get weird because Meredith thinks that Everett is going to propose and she's not up for it, so she rushes to give out her gift for everyone. They are all kind of shocked that she has gotten them a gift and open it as a group. It is a framed photo of a pregnant Sybil, and they are all shocked that she would give them such a thoughtful gift. Sybil tells her that she has done good. She gets up to go do something; Everett tries to go with her and she blurts out that she will not marry Everett in front of everyone. Then Everett tells her that he wasn't going to ask, and she blurts out that she slept with Ben. Ben tries to tell them that they didn't sleep together at all, but Meredith leaves the room to go to the kitchen, sobbing about how humiliated she is, and tries to put the Morton family meal in the oven.

Now that they realize she's not a horrible person, Amy and Sybil feel bad for her humiliation and go to the kitchen, where they smack the kitchen door into Meredith, and her dish falls all over her and the floor. She cries some more, asking them why they think they are better than her, and tells Amy that she is the worst, then Amy falls in the egg mess. Meanwhile Everett chases Ben into the kitchen, where Ben finally is able to tell him that they didn't have sex, and he slept on the floor. And why does he care really, he doesn't love her. Sybil, Amy and Meredith hear this exchange, and obviously agree with this assessment.

Everett showers, Julie finds out when the bus to her home leaves that night. Everett and Meredith chat in his room, basically concurring that they're done. Meredith goes to Ben's room, and he invites her to sit on the bed. Then he tells her to get out of her clothes which smell like puke, and she puts on one of his t-shirts and they lay and sing Christmas songs. Susannah's husband finally shows up and comments that he saw Amy making out with Brad in his truck. Everett wonders where Julie is, and Elizabeth has the family ring on and fesses up that Julie said goodbye. Everett and Thad and Kelly go looking for her at the inn. Everett spots her across the way at the bus stop, and he goes to her as the bus drives up and asks her to stay. She seemingly leaves, but then the bus stops and she gets off, asking him what he's doing for New Years.

One year later, on Christmas Eve, Thad, Patrick, and their new adopted baby son pull up to the Stone house in their Range Rover. They go in where Dad, Kelly and Susannah (along with Elizabeth and her new baby) greet them. Everyone gathers in the living room and we see Amy and Brad are now a couple as well as Ben and Meredith. Sybil is nowhere in sight, confirming to us that she is dead, having lost her recurring battle with breast cancer definitively. Then Everett and Julie (now also a couple) show up. Everyone is together and sort of smiling, and they are decorating the family Christmas tree. They all leave Brad and Amy in the family room, where Amy hangs the ornament that Sybil was staring at in the beginning.

Songs[]

Title(s) Performed by
"Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" Dean Martin
"Jingle Bells" Johnny Mercer
"Joy to the World"
"O Little Town of Bethlehem"
"Fooled Around and Fell in Love" Elvin Bishop
"Miracles"
"Count on Me"
Jefferson Starship
"Home! Sweet Home!"
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker: III-XIId. "Trepak"
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
(featured in Meet Me In St. Louis)
Judy Garland
"Right Back Where We Started From" Maxine Nightingale

Cast[]

Actor/actress Character(s)
Claire Danes Julie Morton
Diane Keaton Sybil Stone
Rachel McAdams Amy Stone
Dermot Mulroney Everett Stone
Craig T. Nelson Kelly Stone
Sarah Jessica Parker Meredith Morton
Luke Wilson Ben Stone
Tyrone Giordano Thad Stone
Brian White Patrick Thomas
Elizabeth Reaser Susannah Stone Trousdale
Paul Schneider Brad Stevenson
Savannah Stehlin Elizabeth Trousdale
Jamie Kaler John Trousdale
Robert Dioguardi David Silver
Carol Locatell Jeweler
Ginna Carter Jittery Cashier
Gus Buktenica Bartender
Michael Pemberton
Ron Wall
Bus Drivers
Christopher Parker Inn Receptionist
Steve Alterman
John Gidcomb
Susan Leslie
Hope Levy
Randall Montgomery
Jill Remez
ADR Voices

External links[]

20th Century
Movies
Miracle on 34th Street (1955 remake) (1973 remake) (1994 remake) • Die HardDie Hard 2Home AloneHome Alone 2: Lost in New YorkGeorge Balanchine's The NutcrackerTrapped in ParadiseJingle All the WayHome Alone 4The Family StoneDeck the Halls12 Men of ChristmasHome Alone: The Holiday HeistJingle All the Way 2Home Sweet Home Alone
Television episodes and specials
20th Television
M*A*S*H "Dear Dad" • "Dear Sis" • "Death Takes a Holiday" • "All About Christmas Eve"
Tracey Ullman "Santa Baby" • "Kay's Gift" • "Merry Catnip"
The X Files "Christmas Carol" • "Emily" • "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas"
Malcolm in the Middle "Christmas" • "Christmas Trees" • "Pearl Harbor" • "Hal's Christmas Gift
Bones "The Man in the Fallout Shelter" • "The Santa in the Slush" • "The Goop on the Girl"
How I Met Your Mother "How Lily Stole Christmas" • "Little Minnesota" • "False Positive" • "Symphony of Illumination" • "The Over-Correction" • "The Final Page, Part 1" • "The Final Page, Part 2"
Glee "A Very Glee Christmas" • "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" • "Glee, Actually" • "Previously Unaired Christmas"
New Girl "The 23rd" • "Santa" • "LAXmas" • "Christmas Eve Eve"
The Mindy Project "Josh and Mindy's Christmas Party" • "Christmas Party Sex Trap" • "Christmas" • "When Mindy Met Danny"
Last Man Standing "Last Christmas Standing" • "Putting a Hit on Christmas" • "Elfie" • "Wedding Planning" • "Gift of the Wise Man"
Other shows "Christmas Story" • "The Worst Noel" • "Haus Arrest" • "Amends" • "Blue Christmas" • "A Christmas Story" • "Cookies for Santa" • "In God We Trust" • "Road to Tradition" • "Afternoon Delight" • "Christmas" • "The Glitch That Stole Christmas" • "Secret Santa"
20th Television Animation
The Simpsons "Simpson Christmas" • "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" • "Marge Be Not Proud" • "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" • "Grift of the Magi" • "Skinner's Sense of Snow" • "She of Little Faith" • "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" • "Simpson Christmas Stories" • "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" • "The Fight Before Christmas" • "Holidays of Future Passed" • "White Christmas Blues" • "I Won't Be Home for Christmas • "The Nightmare After Krustmas" • "'Tis the 30th Season" • "Bobby, It's Cold Outside" • "The Way of The Dog" • "A Springfield Summer Christmas for Christmas" • "Manger Things" • Feliz Navidad
King of the Hill "The Unbearable Blindness of Laying" • "Pretty, Pretty Dresses" • "Hillennium" • "'Twas the Nut Before Christmas" • "The Father, the Son, and J.C." • "Livin' on Reds, Vitamin C and Propane" • "Ms. Wakefield"
Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show "A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas" • "The Best Christmas Story Never" • "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever" • "Rapture's Delight" • "A Cleveland Brown Christmas" • "Road to the North Pole" • "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls" • "Murray Christmas" • "Season's Beatings" • "Die Semi-Hard" • "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" • "'Tis the Cleveland To Be Sorry" • "Minstrel Krampus" • "Christmas Guy" • "Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas" • "The 2000-Year-Old Virgin" • "How the Griffin Stole Christmas" • "Ninety North, Zero West" • "Gifted Me Liberty" • "Don't Be a Dickens At Christmas" • "Santa, Schmanta" • "Christmas is Coming" • "Yule. Tide. Repeat." • "The First No L" • "Christmas Crime" • "The Return of the King (of Queens)"
Futurama "Xmas Story" • "A Tale of Two Santas" • "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" • "I Know What You Did Next Xmas"
Bob's Burgers "God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins" • "Christmas in the Car" • "Father of the Bob" • "Nice-Capades" • "The Last Gingerbread House on the Left" • "The Bleakening" • "Better Off Sled" • "Have Yourself a Maily Linda Christmas" • "Yachty or Nice" • "Gene's Christmas Break" • "The Plight Before Christmas" • "The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas"
Other cartoons "Hook's Christmas" • "A Christmas Surprise for Mrs. Stillman" • Olive, the Other ReindeerIce Age: A Mammoth Christmas • "The War on Grafelnik" • "Miracle on Culpepper Slims Boulevard" • "A Very Solar Holiday Opposites Special" • "Dip the Halls Adventure" • "Xmas with The Skanks Adventure"
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