The Family Stone

'Tis not the season to be jolly for high-strung New York career woman Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) in this by-the-numbers, yet likeable holiday comedy from director Thomas Bezucha. Meredith is going home for the holidays with her stoic boyfriend, Everett (Dermot Mulroney) to his family's sprawling place in rural New England to meet his relatives for the first time. Mom Sybil (Diane Keaton) has an imperious streak. Dad Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) is the peacemaking mensch. Deaf son Thad (Ty Giordano) arrives with Patrick (Brian White), his black longtime companion who's blended easily into the family. Waspish kid sister Amy (Rachel McAdams) has a grudge against uptight Meredith from the get-go. Sister Susannah (Elizabeth Reaser) arrives with one child in tow and another on the way, but without her husband. And laid-back son Ben (Luke Wilson) jets in from San Francisco in a wardrobe of saggy sweat pants. While the Stones are warm, loving and effusive with each other, Meredith can't seem to crack the code to get into their good graces, making one socially incorrect blunder after another. Part of the poor woman's problem is a script that has her making irrational choices, like refusing to sleep with her boyfriend in his childhood bedroom because "it's not right" somehow, throwing the household into unnecessary upheaval. There's some cheap psychology about what Everett sees in Meredith, and why, none of it terribly convincing. And Parker has to play Meredith on a single note of brittle rigidity; even when the character finally cuts loose, she doesn't really blossom, she just gets drunk and silly. (Never mind that this is the kind of movie Neverland where all the kids have thriving professional careers and their parents keep their childhood rooms exactly the same after they leave home.) Still, the movie often sneaks in past the viewers' defenses on the strength of its excellent cast. This kind of role isn't exactly a challenge for Keaton, but she brings to it such raucous energy and caustic aplomb, she's irresistible. Nelson partners her beautifully as the wise, open-hearted family patriarch who provides moral backbone. Claire Danes is charming as Julie, the sister Meredith calls in for back-up, whom—perversely—the Stones immediately adore. Mulroney has one great scene of putting his family in its place, and Wilson's post-hippie commentary helps keep the whole soufflé floating along.

(**1/2) (PG-13) 102 minutes.