“The Family Stone” is an incredibly well-crafted film that walks the fine line between love and dysfunction. The characters have faults, almost to a fault, but they are still so alive and loveable that you want to reach onto the screen and hug them.

We all face the insanity of family when we gather together for the holidays. So, in this respect, the Stone family is one of the more realistic family angst movies for the holidays. Yeah, there have been other films showing colossal dysfunction during the Christmas season (“Christmas Vacation” is the first one that comes to mind), but none have been so understated, realistically funny and endearing.

Other holiday comedies go for slapstick and pratfalls. “The Family Stone” has a seed of humor that works because it cuts so close to the bone.

In fact, one of the biggest complaints I’ve heard from people about this movie is that it really isn’t a comedy. I always counter by saying it’s not a comedy in the classic sense of the word, but there’s plenty of humor to be found in it. In that respect, it was probably one of the funniest films to come out in the holiday season.

“The Family Stone” is not meant to be another “Home Alone” rip-off. Yes, there is a small amount of physical humor, and we’ve all seen the chase-through-the-house-on-Christmas-morning scene, which is set to the music of Tchaikovsky and reminds us of “Home Alone.” However, that’s not the bulk of the film.

Instead, “The Family Stone” takes the insanity of one family and puts them up against our own judgements. We tend to forget that everyone’s family is insane. If you don’t believe me, think about the last time someone outside of your family unit stayed in your home for an extended period of time. What might seem normal to you is viewed as insane when you’re off the reservation.

Still, with all the craziness of the Stones, I felt a genuine warmth from them. We all get irritated with our families from time to time, and too much of the relatives can be a bad thing. Even though the Stones were bitter and vengeful at times, the film almost made me long to be part of their unit.

“The Family Stone” has an incredible and generous cast. No one in particular can be seen as the star of the film. Yes, Sarah Jessica Parker is pretty much in the limelight throughout, but she gives to the other actors like Luke Wilson, Claire Danes and Rachel McAdams throughout. It’s a film with an ensemble cast that you don’t realize is an ensemble cast until you start counting them.

The DVD comes with a nice packaging of special features, including two feature commentaries. The first brings Sarah Jessica Parker and Dermot Mulroney together to discuss the film. Better than most actor commentaries, they actually talk about the film and the production rather than just ramble about their personal lives.

The second commentary includes writer/director Thomas Bezucha and his producer, editor and production designer. Both commentaries are informative, and each one has subtitles that can play along with the film, which is a treat for anyone with kids or other reason they have trouble actually hearing the television.

There are six deleted scenes with commentary by Bezucha as well as a FOX Movie Channel documentary and Q&A session with the cast from the Screen Actors Guild. Rounding out the special features is a gag reel and a recipe for strata, which is the Christmas morning dish that Meredith was making for the Stones. I do admit that I will try to make that one of these days myself.



Specifications: Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Widescreen (1.85:1). French and Spanish language track. French and Spanish subtitles. English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.