Movie · 1998 · Drama, Romance, Comedy · 2h 5m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 4.7/10 (177.4K ratings)
Be there for the joy. Be there for the tears. Be there for each other.
Overview
Jackie is a divorced mother of two. Isabel is the career minded girlfriend of Jackie’s ex-husband Luke, forced into the role of unwelcome stepmother to their children. But when Jackie discovers she is ill, both women realise they must put aside their differences to find a common ground and celebrate life to the fullest, while they have the chance.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.7/10
IMDb: 6.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.61/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 45%
Metacritic: 58
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
Chris Columbus
Production
1492 Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Wendy Finerman Productions
Cast
Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, Ed Harris, Jena Malone, Liam Aiken, Lynn Whitfield, Darrell Larson, Mary Louise Wilson, Andre B. Blake, Herbert Russell, Jack Eagle, Lu Sierra, Lauma Zemzare, Holly Schenck, Michelle Stone, Annett Esser, Monique Rodrique, Sal Mistretta, Rex Hays, Alice Liu
Curator Review
Verdict
A polished, emotionally direct family drama that leans hard on sentiment but earns much of it through strong performances and a genuinely affecting mother/child dynamic. It’s familiar and occasionally manipulative, yet the movie’s empathy and tearjerker instincts make it an easy recommendation for viewers who like heartfelt domestic drama.
Best for
fans of emotional family dramas
viewers who like tearjerkers with mainstream appeal
audiences interested in motherhood, divorce, and blended families
people who enjoy 1990s studio dramas with star-driven performances
Skip if
you want subtle or psychologically complex writing
you dislike melodrama and obvious emotional cues
you prefer romance or comedy to family-centered drama
you are tired of illness-and-reconciliation tearjerkers
Overview
Stepmom is a very 1990s kind of crowd-pleaser: glossy, sincere, and engineered to make you cry, sometimes with a little too much confidence in its own feelings. But it works because the movie understands the emotional math of blended families, especially the uneasy territory between a biological mother and the woman who may become indispensable to her children.
Worth noting
The film’s biggest strength is its compassion. It doesn’t treat the stepmother as a villain or the ex-wife as a relic; instead, it lets both women be loving, territorial, frightened, and human. That tension gives the movie more life than its familiar setup suggests, and the performances keep it grounded even when the script reaches for the obvious tissue-box moments.
Bottom line
It’s not subtle, and it doesn’t try very hard to be. But if you’re in the mood for a mainstream family drama that values emotional catharsis over realism, Stepmom delivers exactly what it promises: a sincere, sad, and ultimately generous story about letting go and making room for love.
Top Letterboxd reviews
irenedone (3★) · 2569 likes
How important was the dad really
nicole (3★) · 2051 likes
A concept: instead of Susan's character dying, she and julia's character could date and raise the children together?? I'm just saying.
Kate (3★) · 1956 likes
ok but this would have been better if susan sarandon and julia roberts' characters realised that they were in love with each other
ericlis (3★) · 1282 likes
'CAUSE BABY THERE AIN'T NO MOUTAIN HIGH ENOUGH AIN'T NO VALLEY LOW ENOUGH AIN'T NO RIVER WIDE ENOUGH
TO KEEP ME FROM GETTING YOU BABY
clara! ･*･ﾟ (3.5★) · 1115 likes
“i had their past, you can have their future”
aahh i loved this so much :’)
2003 · Comedy, Drama · 1h 21m · PG-13 · Curator 6.0/10 (51K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, MGM Plus, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A smaller, more intimate family drama that finds tenderness in strained relationships and holiday pressure.