MovieChat Forums > The Family Stone (2005) Discussion > The Message?

The Message?

posted 11 years ago by tjtmd
3 replies | jump to latest

This movie IMO sends a very NEGATIVE message:

Meredith had not done anything wrong.
Amy hated her b/c she took her to a restaurant and talked and cleared her throat.
Amy should have been happy to have been fed since in <almost?> every scene she is eating.

If Meredith's rant had preceded the family's animosity, it would have made some sense to me but just being mean for no reason is cruel.
I guess the eons it took her to tell how she and Everett met or the apparent pointing (or her demanding to sleep in separate rooms) may have been a reason to dislike Meredith but this all came after Amy and the family decided to hate her.

I have never liked Diane Keaton after seeing this film.

QUESTIONS:
* Didn’t Meredith have a cell phone and couldn’t SHE have left the room for “privacy” when Julie called?
* Did anyone notice Keaton’s inconsistency re: bringing up her SONS as gay so they would not leave home? What about her DAUGHTERS? Thad left home and he was gay.

[–] MissAngelCakes 11 years ago

What Meredith said was very inconsiderate and unacceptable. I understand where she was coming from, but you do not go into someone's home who you have only just met and say you want a "normal" child rather than a gay one. Diane Keaton was amazing, how can you hate her because of this, it's ridiculous.

[–] MissAngelCakes 11 years ago

I understand exactly what she meant, about growing up in a society that will always bully and put you down for being gay even with the changing laws of the countries. so at the beginning I was with her, but seeing how she carried on, knowing how upset the mother and brother was, was just stupid.

[–] wmousie 11 years ago

Meridith wasn't commenting on the mother wanting a gay child, she was questioning the mother's imbecilic statement that she wished all her sons had been gay so they wouldn't leave her. As well it should be.

First, the statement is brain-dead merely on the face of it. Secondly, it is an insult to her heterosexual sons who could not have made stupid mommy's wishes come true even if they tried. Thirdly, it insults her daughters, by default, for not also wanting to keep them near her. And finally, it is an insult to her gay son, who is getting on with his life, settling down with his partner, and adopting a child; just what she claims she didn't want her heterosexual sons to do.

That whole scene is unbelievable, written for an effect, and damn poorly written at that.