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FILMS REVIEWS

RALPH LAUREN

 

The Family Stone (2005)  Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

Contains mild bad language, sex references and drug references

It's the season of good will, but there's not much of it going round in yuletide comedy The Family Stone. Diane Keaton plays the head of the clan and leads the assault on Sarah Jessica Parker as the uptight New Yorker who threatens to marry her son (Dermot Mulroney). Although it sounds like a mean-spirited twist on Meet The Parents,  writer/director Thomas Bezucha swaps the slapstick for a surprisingly tender if sometimes too cloying account of a family in upheaval. Initially things aren't promising with Meredith coming across just as annoying as her spiteful in-laws. Only Luke Wilson exudes the Christmas spirit, playing the would-be brother-in-law who takes an inexplicable shine to her. "You have the freak flag," he explains. "You just don't fly it." Gradually though, the cracks in everyone's armour begin to show and with Claire Danes' arrival (typically soulful as Meredith's sister), an all-out bitch-fest becomes an engaging ensemble piece.

"TEAR-JERKING FINALE": In a fearless and funny bit of writing, Meredith drops a clanger at the dinner table about the suitability of gay couples as parents. It's a testament to the skilful script that she still inspires sympathy without the crutch of being stereotypically kooky or cosy. Parker carries it off well and likewise Rachel McAdams (playing the youngest Stone) reveals an endearing vulnerability beneath her viciousness. It's Keaton, however, who anchors the story with a formidable countenance that becomes her character's greatest virtue. Bezucha hammers the point home a little too strongly in a tear-jerking finale, but despite its flaws, The Family Stone sparkles bright with originality. -Bt S. Paramchel.

Director: Thomas Bezucha. Writer: Thomas Bezucha. Stars: Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Keaton, Luke Wilson, Claire Danes, Dermot Mulroney, Rachel McAdams, Craig T Nelson, Tyrone Giordano, Brian J White Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance.  Length: 103 minutes. Cinema: 16 December 2005. Country: USA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

King Kong was less of a box-office brute than Hollywood expected

Actress Naomi Watts from the film "King Kong" at the MTV Times Square Studios, Dec. 5, 2005, New York.

King Kong was less of a box-office brute than Hollywood expected, taking in $50.15 million in its first weekend, a sturdy start but unremarkable by Hollywood blockbuster standards. Universal Pictures' action spectacle about a giant ape took over the top box-office spot from Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which slipped to second place with $31.2 million and lifted its 10-day total to $112.5 million, according to studio estimates released Sunday. Premiering at No. 3 with $12.7 million was 20th Century Fox's ensemble comic drama The Family Stone, featuring Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Keaton, Luke Wilson and Claire Danes in a tale of an uptight businesswoman meeting her fiancé's relations during a holiday visit. The cowboys-in-love drama Brokeback Mountain, which led the Golden Globes with seven nominations, broke into the top 10 with $2.4 million playing in just 69 theatres, compared to 3,568 for King Kong. Hollywood analysts generally expected King Kong to have a debut weekend at least in the $60 million range. Though it came in lower than expected, King Kong led Hollywood to a solid weekend, with the top 12 movies grossing $121.2 million, up 22 per cent from the same weekend last year. That was good news heading into the holidays, when studios are counting on a strong finish to help snap a prolonged slump in which movie attendance has fallen seven per cent compared with last year. Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong did out-gross the opening weekend of his The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of his J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy trilogy that debuted with $47.2 million. But factoring in a 12 per cent rise in admission prices since that 2001 film's release, King Kong sold about 7.9 million tickets, 450,000 fewer than Fellowship of the Ring. And King Kong did not measure up to the first five days of Fellowship of the Ring, which debuted on a Wednesday and had grossed $75.1 million domestically by Sunday. Also opening Wednesday, King Kong got to $66.2 million in its first five days. Still, distributor Universal was high on the long-term prospects for the film, which received rave reviews both as a visual-effects spectacle and as a drama about a majestic ape that falls for a woman (Naomi Watts). Along with its domestic haul, King Kong took in $80 million overseas in its first five days.

The studio hopes King Kong follows the long-term pattern of another three-hour epic, Titanic, which opened with a modest $28.6 million weekend then sailed on to become the modern box-office champ with $600 million domestically. "The expectation or the guessing or hypothesizing of what it was going to do is based on a lot of misunderstanding and ignorance over how a three-hour movie plays that doesn't come with legions of fans," said Marc Shmuger, vice-chairman of Universal Pictures, who brushed aside suggestions that King Kong had not lived up to expectations. "This is not Tolkien. This is not the Harry Potter fan base." Grosses for King Kong jumped 40 per cent from Friday to Saturday, a huge increase for a non-family film and a sign that good word-of-mouth was pulling in audiences, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "A movie like King Kong just automatically creates an expectation that it will break all kinds of box-office records," Dergarabedian said. "But much like Titanic, which started very slow, sometimes it's not always about opening weekends. Sometimes, it's how the film plays in the long run." Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. King Kong, $50.15 million.

2. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, $31.2 million.

3. The Family Stone, $12.7 million.

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, $5.9 million.

5. Syriana, $5.5 million.

6. Walk the Line, $3.6 million.

7. Yours, Mine & Ours, $3.4 million.

8. Brokeback Mountain, $2.4 million.

9. Just Friends, $1.95 million.

10. Aeon Flux, $1.7 million. -By D. German