I’ve said before that 20th Century Fox probably made a bad call in delaying the opening of The Family Stone from mid-November to 12.16. Maybe they’ll luck out with Diane Keaton or Sarah Jessica Parker getting Golden Globe-nominated for a Best Female Performance in Comedy or Musical…or maybe the Los Angeles or New York critics will give Diane a nod. All I know for sure is (a) The Family Stone is the best home-for-the-holidays family dramedy I’ve seen in a long time, on the level of You Can’t Take It With You and/or The Man Who Came to Dinner, (b) neither the trailer nor the upraised-wedding-finger poster conveys what it really is (especially the poster, which is all about anger and irreverence…emotions that are not exactly front-and-center in the ffilm), (c) I’m sensing the same sand-leaking-out-of-the- hourglass feeling I had before In Her Shoes opened, and (d) the latest tracking I’ve heard about says “definite interest” in The Family Stone is at 15%, which is not good for a film opening three weeks from now (it should be at 30% right about now). The word last September was that Fox had three home-run movies that couldn’t miss because they were so well made and emotionally satisfying, and here we are two months later and only Walk the Line has made good on its promise. In Her Shoes stumbled and it looks like The Family Stone may follow suit, and who else is there to blame except Bob Harper and the Fox marketing team?