The Family Stone wants to make you laugh. It wants to make you cry. And it wants both very badly. It'll sink to the lowest depths of slapstick for a chuckle and bare its breast-cancer scars for your tears. It's the most formulaic of romantic comedies, gift-wrapped in a bittersweet character study, and the two elements don't mesh.
The whole debacle begins when Everett Stone (Mulroney) brings his uptight girlfriend Meredith (Parker) home for the holidays to meet his tight-knit family. Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson play the parents of the clan, which includes a pregnant daughter, a bitchy daughter, an aloof son and a deaf, gay son with a black boyfriend (which creates a time bomb of prejudicial faux pas for Meredith to set off). Everett hopes to obtain his grandmother's ring from his mother so he can propose, but Mom would sooner die than see that happen so, conveniently, she's dying of cancer.
Initially, the film paints Meredith as a sympathetic outsider struggling to fit in with a group that has unfairly condemned her. But after about 20 minutes of her shallow, whiny ignorance, you'll be rooting for the family Stone. Everett certainly shouldn't marry such a woman. If only there was an alternative. ... Then, suddenly, about halfway through the movie, Meredith's sister Julie (Claire Danes) shows up.
In stark contrast to her sister, Julie is nice and easygoing, and since she has one pleasant conversation with Everett, clearly the two are meant for each other. But what about Meredith? Well, fortunately, this is one of those romantic comedies where even the spurned lovers find happiness, so it turns out that the aloof brother, Ben (Luke Wilson), is inexplicably drawn to her. So everything ends happily. Oh, except the mother dies. Now, everybody cry.
The Family Stone contains some great scenes and splendid performances that would have been better off in a film that remained true to them. Keaton is magnificent, navigating between drama and comedy with great ease. She's especially memorable when stewing quietly during a cringe-inducing dinner scene where Meredith unintentionally insults her gay son. The tone is perfect, but 15 minutes later, it's ruined as people chase through the house, spilling Christmas breakfast all over each other. That part's meant to make you laugh, but it'll probably make you cry.