Twenty years after its release, a sequel to The Family Stone (2005) may reportedly be in the works. The holiday movie, beloved by many, features such stars as Diane Keaton (1946-2025), Sarah Jessica Parker, Rachel McAdams, Dermot Mulroney, Claire Danes, Luke Wilson, Craig T. Nelson, and Elizabeth Reaser.
The Stones attending the annual Christmas gathering are brothers Everett (Mulroney), Ben (Wilson), and Thad (Ty Giordano), sisters Amy (McAdams) and pregnant Susannah (Reaser), Susannah’s young daughter, and parents Sybil (Keaton) and Kelly (Nelson). Everett’s serious with girlfriend Meredith (Parker), who’s being introduced to the family—and she fails to fit in at all. Other non-Stones include Thad’s male and black partner Patrick (Brian White) and Meredith’s sister, Julie (Danes).
The trailer below provides a sampling of the ensuing issues at hand:
The Family Stone Dysfunction
Roger Ebert: “’The Family Stone’ is silly at times, leaning toward the screwball tradition of everyone racing around the house at the same time in a panic fueled by serial misunderstandings.”
Other critiques two decades ago included Kenneth Turan calling it “a dose of realistic dysfunction” (NPR), Michael Booth (Denver Post) noting it’s a “steaming cup of melodrama” (that he liked), and Rex Reed enjoying it so much he anticipated it would become an annual rewatch.
One who admits still having it on holiday repeat is Morgan Roberts (Intheirownleague.com): “It’s not a quirky little Christmas movie, but one about impending grief and what we do to preserve moments we cherish.”
(What’s that you say about grief…?)
Okay, no more. Because that would involve spoilers.
But Maybe You Actually Want Spoilers?
Well, in that case, read on for just a brief whiff of outcomes.
I’ll cut to the chase. Sybil’s cancer has returned and is terminal. Although she had wanted to wait until after Christmas to share this with her kids, the information leaks out here and there and shakes them up in various ways.
Uptight Meredith’s various missteps with the family include how she tries to communicate with Thad, who’s deaf, as well as a major show of homophobia that proves deeply uncomfortable and unacceptable to the Stones. This climactic scene is a turning point that’s highly difficult for Meredith but sweetly and movingly supportive of Thad and Patrick.
Ultimately, couple Everett and Meredith do what the rest of the family Stone can better support—they break up. Not only that, the two single Stone brothers and the Meredith/Julie sisters are headed for a swap of sorts.
We see them a year later: Everett’s with Julie, Meredith’s with Ben. Thad and Patrick have adopted a child, Susannah and her husband have a newborn, and Amy’s now with the local guy who’d had a long-unrequited crush on her.
This poignant celebration, however, is now missing a key member, one who had worried her family members, particularly Everett, might falter after she’s gone. Kelly had tried to reassure her they’d all be okay—and that does seem to be true.
