It always bewilders me when you see clips and trailers for a film and it's presented in one way and then you end up seeing it and it's vastly different to what you expected it to be. The Family Stone has been marketed so freely as some sort of frivolous piece of slapstick comedy that when the layers start to be drawn it sort of comes as a bit of a surprise.
The strength of the film is the way the dynamic of the family is developed. Each character is given some time to grow on screen with all of the actors up to task. Keaton, Parker and McAdams have all garnered mention from a number of the reviews by both critics and posters on this board and they're all really good, particularly McAdams (but seriously in her short career so far has she ever been bad?), however, it was Nelson who was the one who stood out for me. Obviously The Incredibles has done something for his film career and here's hoping with what we got to see here that he's given more opportunities.
Somewhat predictable, in the end it doesn't really matter as we're swept along with the way the family Stone progress through the trials and tribulations of the Christmas period. Other favourable factors included Giacchino's appropriately festive score and the sensibility of the director and writer, Thomas Bezucha, to stay just the right side of sentimental over-kill and in-your-face preachiness.
A solid and fun way to start the year '06 of film.
The strength of the film is the way the dynamic of the family is developed. Each character is given some time to grow on screen with all of the actors up to task. Keaton, Parker and McAdams have all garnered mention from a number of the reviews by both critics and posters on this board and they're all really good, particularly McAdams (but seriously in her short career so far has she ever been bad?), however, it was Nelson who was the one who stood out for me. Obviously The Incredibles has done something for his film career and here's hoping with what we got to see here that he's given more opportunities.
Somewhat predictable, in the end it doesn't really matter as we're swept along with the way the family Stone progress through the trials and tribulations of the Christmas period. Other favourable factors included Giacchino's appropriately festive score and the sensibility of the director and writer, Thomas Bezucha, to stay just the right side of sentimental over-kill and in-your-face preachiness.
A solid and fun way to start the year '06 of film.