12 Gays of Christmas
By Tina Wargo
Courtesy of 20th Century Fox.
The Family Stone
This one’s a bone I’m willing to throw to those of us who still love and respect the sanctity of the holiday season and would appreciate if we could gay it up a bit more. This movie depicts one of the most realistic portrayals of family-in-the-throes-of-holiday-madness. Plus, it features a stellar cast, a relatively light tone and a heartbreaking reveal. So, basically, this movie has it all. It plays out like an indie that accidentally got huge (which is kinda what happened). The moments are small and sometimes lovely, but can feel utterly emotionally explosive — just like at your actual holiday celebrations!
Our way into the story and the Stone family at its center is Sarah Jessica Parker’s Meredith, the girlfriend but hopefully soon fiancé of the family’s oldest boy. She’s rigid, they’re wacky. She’s logical and analytical, they’re accepting and free-flowing. They’re relatively diverse, too. The family includes a gay, deaf son and his African-American husband, a militantly independent daughter, and a mother who loves them all the more because of their uniqueness.
Of course, Meredith’s out of place and we’re thrown in the middle.
It’s one of those films that is gay-friendly, but not because it’s explicit about a gay story. Instead, it’s because gay people are just people functioning within and among the action of the rest of the story. You know, like how it works in normal human life. But nonetheless, the representation is welcome and appreciated in this otherwise tight, quiet family dramedy, and for that, I am gay-teful. (I’m so sorry.)