The Family Stone has been described as "A grisly, manipulative, mawkish, and thoroughly phony film" (Guardian) and "One of the best movies I saw all year" (Internet Movie Database). Quite. It's easy to forget that, far from being a sitcom star breaking into movies, Sarah Jessica Parker was in some fairly big films before and during Sex and the City. Then again, taking the role of an uptight New Yorker doesn't seem much of a stretch (even if on TV she was fun and sassy). Along for the ride is Michael Giacchino in what seems like his millionth assignment appearing roughly the same time and while it doesn't exactly stretch him technically, is a nice enough frothy frolic.

The Stone Family Waltz is a bit of a red herring as, far from setting the tone of the score, hits us with a grandiose theme that seems from another film entirely. However, done with such gusto, it draws in the listener from the outset. The tone calms down into more traditional romantic (ish) comedy scoring for Millie's Famous Brownies. Although set around Christmas, Giacchino thoughtfully refrains from smacking this fact around the listener's head; sure, there's some delicate plinking - Separate Bedrooms, for example - but largely devoid of too much overt festive jollity. Only the inclusion of the Trepak from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky (although I have no idea exactly what Jennifer Hammond did by way of "arrangement") and the instrumental (with tune omitted, so you could karaoke to it, I guess) Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas gives the game away entirely.

In a pleasing piece of production, the Alternate Main Theme gets an airing; instead of a bouncing waltz, it's a bouncing, playful march and every bit as good as its eventual replacement. A nine minute suite, bringing all the ideas to a close, rounds out the album. True, The Family Stone breaks no new ground, but the film genre is hardly one that inspires great invention, thus tunefulness and lack of unwanted sentiment is as much as one could hope for. On these counts, Giacchino duly delivers and adds another genre he can tackle with consummate skill. Delightful.

Rating ~

  1. The Stone Family Waltz (1:41)
  2. Millie's Famous Brownies (1:30)
  3. They're Here! (0:53)
  4. Separate Bedrooms (0:38)
  5. Hi (1:09)
  6. Dawn (0:39)
  7. She's Going to the Inn (0:47)
  8. Who Else Knows? (1:01)
  9. Is That Her? (0:55)
  10. What Seems to the Problem Here, Ma'am (0:49)
  11. Coffee or Something (1:43)
  12. A Big Red Shovel (1:39)
  13. Sybil & Kelly (0:40)
  14. Just Stockings (0:37)
  15. Try It On (3:04)
  16. You and Me, Kid (0:57)
  17. Trepak (Cossack Dance) (1:09)
    Composed by P T Tchaikovsky
  18. Global Warming (1:30)
  19. It's Snowing (5:09)
  20. A Very Good Tree (3:56)
  21. Main Theme (Alternate) (1:44)
  22. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Instrumental) (2:44)
    Composed by Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin
  23. The Family Stone Suite (9:06)

Total Time ~ 43:59