''Stepmom'' is a 1998 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by Chris Columbus and produced by Wendy Finerman, Mark Radcliffe, and

Michael Barnathan Michael Barnathan is an American film producer who has produced and executive-produced films such as ''Used People'', ''The Help'', the first three ''Harry Potter'' films, '' Rent'', ''Cheaper by the Dozen'' and ''Night at the Museum''. He was a ...

. The screenplay was written by Gigi Levangie, Jessie Nelson, Steven Rogers, Karen Leigh Hopkins, and

Ronald Bass Ronald Jay Bass (born March 26, 1942), sometimes credited as Ron Bass, is an American screenwriter and film producer. He won an Academy Award for writing the screenplay for Barry Levinson's film ''Rain Man'', and films that Bass is associate ...

. The film stars

Julia Roberts Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. Known for her leading roles across various genres, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and three Golden Globe Award ...

Susan Sarandon Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actor. With a career spanning over five decades, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to ...

, and

Ed Harris Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor and filmmaker. His performances in '' Apollo 13'' (1995), '' The Truman Show'' (1998), '' Pollock'' (2000), and '' The Hours'' (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Awa ...

. Its plot follows a terminally ill woman dealing with her ex-husband's new lover, who will soon be their children's stepmother. ''Stepmom'' was released in the United States on December 25, 1998, by

Sony Pictures Releasing Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group (formerly known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group until 2013, and abbreviated as SPMPG) is a division of Sony Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment to manage its motion picture operatio ...

. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was a box office success, grossing $159.7 million worldwide against a budget of $50 million. Among other accolades, Sarandon was nominated for a

Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama is a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award that was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951. Previously, there was a single aw ...

for her performance.

Plot

Jackie and Luke Harrison are a

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

couple who are struggling to co-parent their two children, daughter Anna and son Ben. Luke, an attorney, is living with his girlfriend of one year, Isabel Kelly, a successful fashion photographer several years his junior. Isabel, who has never wanted to be a mother, tries hard to make Anna and Ben feel comfortable. Anna repeatedly rejects her overtures while Ben, who likes Isabel, adds extra complications with his mischief. Isabel behaves with contempt tempered by caution around Jackie, believing she overcompensates for the divorce by spoiling her children. Jackie, a former

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

turned

stay-at-home mom A stay-at-home mother (alternatively, stay-at-home mom or SAHM) is a mother who is the primary caregiver of the children. The male equivalent is the stay-at-home dad. The gender-neutral term is stay-at-home parent. Stay-at-home mom is distinct ...

, treats Isabel coldly, seeing her as an immature, selfish, overly ambitious career woman. She also continues to harbor malice towards Luke, as seen in confrontations about Isabel's parenting. After many arguments and hurt feelings involving Isabel, Jackie, and Anna, Luke proposes to Isabel, making her Anna and Ben's future official

stepmother A stepmother, stepmum or stepmom is a female non-biological parent married to one's preexisting parent. Children from her spouse's previous unions are known as her stepchildren. A stepmother-in-law is a stepmother of one's spouse. Culture Ste ...

. This causes even more friction between the kids and adults respectively. It's later revealed that Jackie has been silently battling

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

for some time, and the results of her latest scans say the disease is now terminal. She experiences a range of negative emotions, specifically jealousy of the woman who she feels is replacing her, and anger that after all of the sacrifices made for her children, she will never see them grow up. Jackie actively sabotages Isabel's effort to bond with the children, even to the point of refusing to allow Isabel to take Anna to see

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

and then later taking her to the concert herself. Isabel and Anna's relationship eventually improves, and they bond over shared hobbies: music and painting. One day, after bringing back Ben from a birthday party, Isabel confronts Jackie, so she informs Luke and the children of her diagnosis, resulting in Anna emotionally storming out. That night, Jackie loosens up the tension by singing and dancing to "

Ain't No Mountain High Enough "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a song written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson in 1966 for the Tamla label, a division of Motown. The composition was first successful as a 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and ...

" with Ben, soon joined by Anna too. Both Jackie and Isabel continue to have disagreements, largely over Isabel's parenting. When Ben goes missing on Isabel's watch, Jackie threatens legal action and claims to have never lost him, which she later admits to be untrue. At school, Anna is consistently bullied by a boy she once liked and the two women give her conflicting advice, causing more tension. Jackie later invites Isabel to have dinner with her, and they work out a shaky truce, coming to terms with Jackie's impending death and Isabel's role as a stepmother. They bond when Isabel reveals her admiration of Jackie's maternal instincts, while Jackie in turn praises Isabel's hipness as a means to connect with Anna. Isabel finally lets her guard down when she tells Jackie her biggest fear is that on Anna's wedding day, all she will wish for is her mother's presence, while Jackie admits her own fear is that Anna will forget her. They come to understand that while Jackie will always have the children's past, Isabel will have their future, and the children can love them both without choosing. On Christmas morning, the family gathers to celebrate together. Jackie, now largely bedridden, shares emotional moments with her children individually, telling them that she will remain with them as long as they remember her. Isabel takes a family portrait of Luke and Jackie with the children. Jackie demonstrates her acceptance of Isabel by inviting her to join them, stating, "Let's get a photo with the whole family." Isabel sits next to Jackie for the photo, with both women holding hands, finally at peace with each other.

Cast

as Isabel Kelly *

as Jackie Harrison *

as Luke Harrison *

Jena Malone Jena Laine Malone (; born November 21, 1984) is an American actress. Born in Sparks, Nevada, Malone spent her early life there and in Las Vegas, while her mother acted in local theater productions. Inspired to become an actress herself, Malone ...

as Anna Harrison * Liam Aiken as Ben Harrison *

Lynn Whitfield Lynn Whitfield (''née'' Smith; born February 15, 1953) is an American actress. She began her acting career in television and theatre before progressing to supporting roles in film. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a ...

as Dr. Sweikert * Darrell Larson as Duncan Samuels *

Mary Louise Wilson Mary Louise Wilson (born November 12, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and comedian, known for her role in '' Grey Gardens''. She is also known for her appearances on '' One Day at a Time''. Early life Wilson was born in New Haven, Conn ...

as School Counselor * Andre B. Blake as Cooper * Herbert Russell as Photo Assistant * Jack Eagle as Craft Service Man * Holli Marie Connors as girl at school

Reception

''Stepmom'' opened at #2 at the North American box office behind '' Patch Adams'' making $19.1 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

in its opening weekend. It stayed at the second spot for another week. The film grossed $91,137,662 in the United States and $159,710,793 worldwide from a budget of $50 million. ''Stepmom'' received mixed reviews from critics. It has a 44% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

based on 93 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The site's consensus reads: "Solid work from Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon isn't enough to save ''Stepmom'' from a story whose manipulations dilute the effectiveness of a potentially affecting drama". On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film holds a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 58 out of 100 based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades

was nominated for the

and won the San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress.

won the

National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor The National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor is one of the annual film awards given (since 1954) by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organizatio ...

for his roles in ''Stepmom'' and ''

The Truman Show ''The Truman Show'' is a 1998 American Psychological film, psychological comedy-drama film written and co-produced by Andrew Niccol, and directed by Peter Weir. The film depicts the story of Truman Burbank (played by Jim Carrey), a man who is un ...

''.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to ''Stepmom'' was released on August 12, 1998 via

Sony Classical Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired ...

label.

Certifications

Home media

The film was released in DVD and VHS on April 27, 1999. The film was released in Blu Ray on March 7, 2017 and also as part of a Blu-ray Disc double feature with '' The Deep End of the Ocean'' from Mill Creek Entertainment on June 4, 2019.

Remake

In 2010,

Karan Johar Karan Yash Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo, is an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several successful ac ...

's adaptation of ''Stepmom'', titled '' We Are Family'', was released for an Indian audience. Johar initially intended to buy the rights to the film, but eventually opted to co-produce it with

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

. ''We Are Family'' stars

Kajol Kajol Devgan (née Mukherjee) (; born 5 August 1974), known mononymously as Kajol, is an Indian actress. Described in the media as one of the most successful actresses of Hindi cinema, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, such as six ...

Kareena Kapoor Khan Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress. A prolific leading lady of Hindi cinema since 2000, she is noted for her roles in a range of film genres—from romantic comedies to crime dramas. Kapoor is the recipient ...

, and

Arjun Rampal Arjun Rampal (born 26 November 1972) is an Indian actor and model who mainly works in Hindi films. He made his acting debut in Rajiv Rai's romance film ''Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat'' (2001) and has since gone on to Arjun Rampal filmography, act in ...

, and was released to mixed reviews and received average returns at the box office.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stepmom (Film) 1998 films 1492 Pictures films 1990s female buddy films 1990s buddy comedy-drama films 1998 comedy-drama films 1990s English-language films American female buddy films American buddy comedy-drama films Columbia Pictures films English-language comedy-drama films Films about cancer in the United States Films about dysfunctional families Films about mother–daughter relationships Films directed by Chris Columbus (filmmaker) Films produced by Chris Columbus (filmmaker) Films produced by Michael Barnathan Films scored by John Williams Films set in New York City Films shot in New Jersey Films shot in New York (state) Films with screenplays by Ronald Bass 1990s American films English-language buddy comedy-drama films