The Family Stone (2005)

My expectations that this would be a slapstick comedy were completely wrong -- I'm guessing that both this film and Matchstick Men hired the same guys to put together a fully misleading trailer.

There's a fantastic mix here of humor and drama, of uncomfortableness and beauty. I was angry and touched and fully immersed in the story. The actors do an amazing job of feeling like a family - the only performance with which I had any trouble was Dermot Mulroney's (I'm really not sure why this guy even has career, let alone one as an object of desire - he always comes off as rather a cold fish). But even his monotone delivery and unchanging expressions couldn't drag this movie down too much.

A