[attrition] review: Movie: The Family Stone

[lyger]

http://attrition.org/movies/stone.html

The Family Stone
2005

A movie so thick, so saturated with awkwardness, Freud would die of a 
massive stroke.  Twice.

In a nutshell: The oldest of five brings his fiance Meredith home for the 
holidays to meet the family.  And like a shower of sparks in a densely 
packed fireworks factory, with magnesium walls and a floor soaked with jet 
fuel, things go from bad to catastrophic with masterful precision.

Scene after scene after scene, like a train wreck following a dozen 
airplane crashes after a freak earthquake followed by the 
bloody-fucking-apocalypse--slight exaggeration--one thing after 
another...it's beyond dysfunctional, it's a scream.  Somebody nominate 
writer/director Thomas Bezucha for a Noble Prize.  This is far beyond the 
realm of mortals and the academy of motion something or another.

Up until the moment that Meredith hands out gifts to each member of the 
Stone family on Christmas morning, you can't help but leave your damned 
jaw on the floor and wonder what in the name of sweet baby jebus could 
possibly else go the fuck wrong?

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