The family stone - 2005

ITA la neve nel cuore . It was nice for a while but it lost itself. They wasting time adding slapstick comedy to the wrong movie, and totally overlooked important aspects of the various relationships. The plot in a few words: it's almost Xmas and Everett (Dermot Mulroney) is about to spend it with all his family. He brings his girlfriend Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) to the party, but nobody there likes her. His mother Sybil (Diane Keaton) needs a second and no more to be sure that she's not the right girl for his son. His sister Amy (Rachel McAdams) dislikes her more than anyone, who knows why. Meredith is very composed and formal and tries indeed too hard to be accepted. Feeling alone she calls her sister Julie (Claire Danes) for support. It's no surprise at all that Everett will fall for Julie, and his brother Ben for Meredith.
Now, the Meredith-Julie relationship totally failed to show, when it should have been a key point to understand Meredith and feel for her. Julie, very loyally, did not accept Everett's invitation to go out for a coffee together (or drink or whatever) but that was the extent of it. Ben's character (Luke Wilson) is not well defined, and it's not clear how he likes Meredith. She really tries too hard to be perfect and accepted, but she does so in a very strange way, because honestly she would often do better just by shutting up. Come on, the dinner scene was so absurd and so long and so unreal. Everett's brother Thad is there with his boyfriend Patrick, and Sybil made a joke about having wished all her sons to be gay, and the family were laughing and joking, and then Meredith very seriously asked her is she had really wished that, and went on and on and on about it. It's obvious it was a joke, of course Meredith's words were true and she was right, but she was totally out of line, she should have never asked the question in the first place because it was a stupid question and totally failing to be considerate towards Thad, but that she would go on and on about it to fill the silence in the room was stupid, and Julie was silent like the others, sort of embarrassed, and tried nothing to help her/stop her. When they stopped her abruptly (it was hard, she didn't seem inclined to do it herself) she stormed out and tried to drive away but she hit a tree (does she know how to drive? It doesn't seem like it, and yet she took the car.. I mean, she was in quite a state, but still, a tree is quite big you know) and Ben came to her. He talked to her and took her to a bar, and he told her she needs to relax and stop trying too hard, and they drank together and Meredith got drunk and started talking and dancing. They slept in the car but she woke up in Ben's bed and thought she had slept with him without thinking of asking him. Everett and Julie had gone out looking for her, but it doesn't seem to me like they tried all that much to find her: basically they walked and talked enjoying each other's company. The next day Everett asked Julie to try on the ring he had planned to give Meredith, because he had planned to propose to Meredith but now he likes Julie and insists until she tries it on and it fits too perfectly: it doesn't want to come off. Julie says it all to Meredith, and although she does ask her why did Everett asked her to try the ring, she doesn't seem too keen on an answer because the matter ends there. Still Meredith now believes that Everett will propose to her, and from that moment she avoids talking to him until she shouts in front of everybody that she will not marry him. Now, the Everett I never liked at all proved me right by saying in front of everybody that he did not ask her and had no intention of asking her. She looked at Julie confused, but still she seemed unable to connect the dots.
Meredith has a breakdown here, saying they must be all happy of this final humiliation, and in her rant she mentions sleeping with his brother and you know what? Everett has the face to appear angry, chasing Ben around the house while the women have various accidents with the food. Stupid.
It could have been a good movie, it had Diane Keaton in it and SJP and CD were good but unfortunately the script lost itself, I don't know why. They got the Julie character in with the only purpose of having Everett fall for her and nothing more. They should have used the character, show her relationship with Meredith and how she was more loose with her.
They should also have shown a reason for Ben immediately liking Meredith. I mean, why was she such a bad choice for Everett but it's ok for Ben??
The only nice scene was when Meredith went to talk to Ben and she laid in bed next to him and they seemed so comfortable together like we had never seen her before. That was a nice moment. There should have been something on that tone earlier on.
It was said that Sybil was very ill and had not long to live, and the movie ends with scenes from the next Xmas, without Sybil: the family going on, Ben with Meredith and Everett with Julie.