Parents' Guide to

The Family Stone

By Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Bittersweet story won't appeal to younger teens.

Movie PG-13 2005 102 minutes
The Family Stone Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 1 parent review

age 15+

Such a great family movie for older or more mature teens.

This movie shows a very diverse family and the the issues they face. There are a lot of good talking points for families. Tolerance, self esteem, goodwill towards others and many other great topics that promote strong morals and values. We laughed, we cried and we really rooted for the family. It’s a family that could represent any one of us because we are all different and should be accepting of one another.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1):
Kids say (6):

Thomas Bezucha's film means well and offers fine performances, but is in the end tripped up by holiday-family-gathering movie clichés. The point of The Family Stone isn't really measuring up, though this is, of course, the presumption of Christmas-family-gathering movies.

While it provides pleasurable moments (Susannah watching Judy Garland sing in Meet Me in St. Louis on TV, Brad finding the perfect gift for Amy), The Family Stone is, finally, less brave than Meredith, resorting at last to cookie-cutter resolutions like slapsticky fights and everyone's-happy couplings.

Movie Details

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