A BIT LIKE EVERYONE'S 'FAMILY'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

MOMENTS OF high hilarity and cringe-inducing honesty are scattered throughout ``The Family Stone.'' The usual holiday get-together/romantic roundelay formulas take over by the end. But enough well-acted, character-smart good will has been dispersed by then to make the smile you'll wear out of the theater feel earned.

A large ensemble that boasts top performances from Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Luke Wilson lends gravity to many a potentially sitcom-ish situation.

Keaton is Sybil Stone, the shrewd matriarch of a New England academic family, and she dispenses nurturing wisdom and harsh judgment with equal, and disconcertingly unpredictable, fervor.

The Stones' small yet somehow rambling colonial is the perfect place for a picture-perfect Christmas. Sybil and her pleasant husband Kelly (Craig T. Nelson), a professor of something or other at the local college, apparently always welcome their five adult children home for the holiday. Only one, McAdams' angry grrl Amy, appears to find this at all onerous.

This year, however, golden boy Everett (Dermot Mulroney) has a lot to be apprehensive about, even if he doesn't realize it. The businessman is bringing home his ridiculously high- strung, corporate freak of a new girlfriend, Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker), for the kinfolk to meet.

And she realizes that the family is not going to like her. Though she's more buttoned-up than actually conservative, there's no hope for her in this hornets' nest of the most impossible sort of close-minded people (that would be ones who are convinced they're the most open-minded clan in the world).

The nervous New Yorker quickly feels the hostility from Sybil, who instantly sizes up Meredith as wrong for her darling boy (to make matters worse, Sybil's probably right). Amy just hates the interloper on general principles. And Meredith manages to say all the wrong things in regard to lovable young Thad Stone (Troy Giordano), a walking ``just happens to be'' trifecta of deaf, gay and in a committed relationship with an African-American man (Brian White).

Only the easygoing stoner Stone, Ben (Wilson), makes an effort to put Meredith at ease. But it's not enough, so she calls in her own, unconvincingly better-adjusted sister Julie (Claire Danes) for moral support. Julie's arrival leads to more agitation, both romantic and familial, and unfortunately also starts the movie's slide into romantic comedy contrivance.

That's after the fatal disease - oy - is introduced. It must be said, however, that as cliched as the dramatic device is, it sets up one very tender and moving love scene.

For the most part, though, these are unwelcome Hollywood detours for what was, for a good while, a nice politics-reversed companion piece to one of the best movies of the year, the small indie production ``Junebug.'' That one stranded a big-city cosmopolitan (who was almost as awkward as Meredith, though never as cartoonish) in the Carolina home of her ornery, reactionary in-laws. One good thing that both films share is their refusal to let anybody off the hook for their personal behavior, regardless of their belief systems and moral world views.

``Stone's'' writer-director is Thomas Bezucha. He used to design department-store windows for Ralph Lauren, and made a nice little indie debut feature, ``Big Eden.'' He set himself a massive challenge with all the strong, distinctive actors he's crammed into ``Family Stone's'' ensemble, and for the most part rides herd over them well. These characters are amusing enough for the time we have to spend at their place. But you wouldn't want to live there.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

THE FAMILY STONE - Three stars

(PG-13: sex, language, drug use)

Starring: Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Dermot Mulroney, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Luke Wilson.

Director: Thomas Bezucha.

Running time: 1 hr. 44 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: This particular home-for-the-holidays/meet-the-folks comedy is smarter and humorously meaner than most, but it disappointingly wraps messy matters up too neatly for some false Christmas cheer.

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Photo:

Julie Morton (Claire Danes) meets her sister's fiance (Dermot Mulroney) and soon-to-be mother- and father-in-law (Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson) in ``The Family Stone.''