This is a very Christmassy tale of family life we probably can all relate too and for a second or so the writers and director or whatever had a good thing going until their started overdoing it a little. Everett Stone (played by Dermot Mulroney) is the eldest son of the Stone family and we meet him bringing his new girlfriend, Meredith Morton (played by the ever shiny Sarah Jessica Parker) home for the holidays. Rachel McAdams, plays Amy Stone the family's last born and the only one who has met Meredith before and we meet her filling the family in on how shallow and vain Merdith is. Diane Keaton, Sybil Stone is the mother a crowd pleaser and also the family buffer, she just wants to see her children happy and have peace around her so she indulges everyone for as long as it will last. Craig T. Nelson, is the dad, Kelly Stone who just follows along whatever his wife is feeling or believing. Tyrone Giordano, play Thad Stone who is hard of hearing and because of this the family has beautifully learned sign language and it is incorporated well into every scene that he's in. All will not be complete without the weird son, Ben Stone and he is played by Luke Wilson. Okay all of this I didn't have a problem with because it sounds like any other family but when the plot twisted, so did the suspension of my disbelief.
When Meredith arrives at the house, nobody really likes her and Everett tries to make her believe that it's all in her head but it soon becomes apparent that it isn't. When mishap after mishap occurs, and Meredith (a woman who doesn't know how or when to shut up) gets fed up, she leave the Stone house and checks into the nearest hotel. Then she telephones her sister, Julie Morton (played by Claire Danes) to come down from Newyork to console her. When Julie gets down there, Meredith asks Everett to pick her up from the bus depot and when he does, sparks begin to fly between the two of them. Meanwhile, sparks have begun to fly between the weird son as Meredith as well. It all just seemed too good to be true and too overwhelming to be borne all at once. And if you haven't had enough of that, they add to the fact (which is also overshadowed by everything else going on) the fact the Sybil Stone is dying of cancer. Oh! in all of that, I forgot to mention that there is another sister, Susannah Stone Trousdale played by Elizabeth Reaser. Phew!
When Meredith arrives at the house, nobody really likes her and Everett tries to make her believe that it's all in her head but it soon becomes apparent that it isn't. When mishap after mishap occurs, and Meredith (a woman who doesn't know how or when to shut up) gets fed up, she leave the Stone house and checks into the nearest hotel. Then she telephones her sister, Julie Morton (played by Claire Danes) to come down from Newyork to console her. When Julie gets down there, Meredith asks Everett to pick her up from the bus depot and when he does, sparks begin to fly between the two of them. Meanwhile, sparks have begun to fly between the weird son as Meredith as well. It all just seemed too good to be true and too overwhelming to be borne all at once. And if you haven't had enough of that, they add to the fact (which is also overshadowed by everything else going on) the fact the Sybil Stone is dying of cancer. Oh! in all of that, I forgot to mention that there is another sister, Susannah Stone Trousdale played by Elizabeth Reaser. Phew!