the family stone
excepting the last extraneous 8 minutes or so, there is something genuinely moving and meritorious about this little bit of xmas fodder.
it's always a pity when a decent film can't sustain what it's attempting to do through a full 100 minutes or so. 'the family stone' falls slightly short of being a seriously good drama thanks to a few horrendously underwritten final scenes (the claire danes/mulroney 'love' scene in particular), as well as a tacked-on, semi-explanatory epilogue. sure, tight-knit comedy/dramas like this seem to demand some kind of pleasurable explanation - if the characters are at all memorable we want to know what became of them beyond the sunset future. the writing & the acting & the development of the characters up to a kind of blissful but ambiguous & still fallible xmas-night ending was just right - to go & spoil the lot by repeating what we already knew seemed both insulting & saddening. i mean you can literally see the spot where they should've called a final cut - luke wilson & sarah jessica-parker, lying together in the first grips of a weird love; wilson grinning, repeating to himself & pondering that ridiculous but oddly relevant line from 'joy to the world': "repeat the sounding joy". gorgeous scene.
back to what i think this film was 'attempting to do', then. the story gets its template from the countless 'boyfriend/girlfriend meets family for the first time' films that've emerged in the last 20 years; 'father of the bride', 'meet the parents' etc. the only ones i can remember are outright comedies. 'the family stone' puts some mild emphasis on the gags, but i'm pretty sure i heard more sobbing than laughing in the cinema i was in. which is just the thing - the meaningful reinforcement of some dramatic moral is usually just tacked-on in films like this. in 'the family stone' it's the comedy that's tacked on, if not seamlessly integrated into scenes of (honestly) tear-jerking drama. diane keaton (via 'father of the bride') has a history in films like this; she knows how to hold the whole together, allowing the supporting actors/actresses do their bit. & they're ALL good. claire danes is radiant; rachel mcadams is almost as good as she was in 'mean girls' (see it if you haven't); dermot mulroney, in one scene in particular, does some great crying.
not bad.
it's always a pity when a decent film can't sustain what it's attempting to do through a full 100 minutes or so. 'the family stone' falls slightly short of being a seriously good drama thanks to a few horrendously underwritten final scenes (the claire danes/mulroney 'love' scene in particular), as well as a tacked-on, semi-explanatory epilogue. sure, tight-knit comedy/dramas like this seem to demand some kind of pleasurable explanation - if the characters are at all memorable we want to know what became of them beyond the sunset future. the writing & the acting & the development of the characters up to a kind of blissful but ambiguous & still fallible xmas-night ending was just right - to go & spoil the lot by repeating what we already knew seemed both insulting & saddening. i mean you can literally see the spot where they should've called a final cut - luke wilson & sarah jessica-parker, lying together in the first grips of a weird love; wilson grinning, repeating to himself & pondering that ridiculous but oddly relevant line from 'joy to the world': "repeat the sounding joy". gorgeous scene.
back to what i think this film was 'attempting to do', then. the story gets its template from the countless 'boyfriend/girlfriend meets family for the first time' films that've emerged in the last 20 years; 'father of the bride', 'meet the parents' etc. the only ones i can remember are outright comedies. 'the family stone' puts some mild emphasis on the gags, but i'm pretty sure i heard more sobbing than laughing in the cinema i was in. which is just the thing - the meaningful reinforcement of some dramatic moral is usually just tacked-on in films like this. in 'the family stone' it's the comedy that's tacked on, if not seamlessly integrated into scenes of (honestly) tear-jerking drama. diane keaton (via 'father of the bride') has a history in films like this; she knows how to hold the whole together, allowing the supporting actors/actresses do their bit. & they're ALL good. claire danes is radiant; rachel mcadams is almost as good as she was in 'mean girls' (see it if you haven't); dermot mulroney, in one scene in particular, does some great crying.
not bad.
3 Comments:
You call this a web site?
It's fake "film noir" styled colouring rates down there with the other wankerola sites on the web.
You should smoke less weed so your mind will not be so cluttered to delude you into thinking this site contributes anything worthwhile to civilisation.
It is the cyber equivalent of what you put at the bottom of a bird cage.
geico car insurance quote
diamond car insurance
car insurance quote online uk
churchil
l car insurance
free online car insurance quote
car
insurance philadelphia
discount car insurance
car insurance san diego
car insurance rats
cheap car insurance online
low cost car insurance
compare car insurance quote
state farm car insurance
collector car insurance
car insurance in new jersey
car insurance for mexico
car insurance los angeles
car insurance cost
antique car insurance
car insurance quote canada
auto insurance quote
online car insurance rate
aig car insurance
aarp car insurance
discount car insurance
car insurance coverage
new york car insurance
car insurance quote
car insurance for woman
online car insurance
http://cheap-car-insurance.quickfreehost.com
Random Keyword: :)
best car insuranc
e company
[url=http://tinyurl.com/y9qxher][img]http://i069.radikal.ru/1001/35/75e72b218708.jpg[/img][/url]
Related keywords:
cheap Tramadol without perscription
prescription what is Tramadol
Tramadol dosage for canines
cheap Tramadol 300ct 50mg
buy Tramadol overnight cheap
Tramadol watson
Tramadol and food poisoning
120 tabs Tramadol
[url=http://www.zazzle.com/AlexanderBlack]Tramadol acetomimophen [/url]
[url=http://seobraincenter.ru]http://seobraincenter.ru[/url]
Tramadol and nausea
Tramadol pill
buy deine nachricht online site Tramadol
cheap order prescription Tramadol
Tramadol saturday delivery no prescription
Tramadol ups cod delivery
buy cheap Tramadol cod free fedex
Post a Comment
<< Home