The Family Stone (2005)

Everett Stone, who made it on Wall Street, returns home for Christmas with his new girlfriend Meredith Morton. His ultra-liberal, anti-conventional, rustic Connecticut family doesn't exactly warm to the outsider; despite her best efforts to please the prospective in-laws, she looks, sounds, and acts like the conservative bigots they hate, while various Stones have their own problems. Only matriarch Sybil Stone's unshakable maverick son Ben gives her a chance, and as Everett won't actively turn against either, she feels more supported by him and a weird romance blossoms. Feeling beleaguered, Meredith calls in help from her easygoing sister Julie, who proves no help to her but soon develops a chemistry with Everett, so everything could shift if they dared follow their hearts.—KGF Vissers