Parents' Guide to

Stepmom

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Contrived yet effective family weepie.

Movie PG-13 1998 124 minutes
Stepmom Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

See all
age 12+

Based on 5 parent reviews

saraht1267
saraht1267 Adult
December 14, 2021
age 12+

Sex discussion not listed

The daughter walks in on dad and girlfriend in the shower together. The daughter tells her mother that her dads girlfriend screams loudly during sex.
3 people found this helpful.
dvdgirl
dvdgirl Adult
May 24, 2020
age 11+

Wow touching.

This is one movie my mom would cry at its good and touching I get excited when it’s on tv such a good movie.

This title has:

Great messages
See all 5 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Jackie Harrison (Susan Sarandon) is unhappily divorced from Luke (Ed Harris), who's now shacking up with fashion photog Isabel (Julia Roberts), with the two kids shuttled in between the two homes. At first Isabel and Jackie are bitter rivals, and the kids side with Mom. But when Jackie develops fatal cancer, Isabel has to start taking up the slack in the Mommy role.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (5):
Kids say (5):

At every step of Stepmom, audiences feel director Chris Columbus pulling the strings. The plot twists are as contrived as the swelling strings that fill the soundtrack, engineered in some Hollywood lab to jerk the tears right out of you. And yet it works, mostly due to the stellar acting on display.

Julia Roberts is predictably glowing, Susan Sarandon is confident and real, and the little nippers (Jena Malone and Liam Aiken) are so genuine that it's easy to forget that you're being pulled this way and that by the filmmakers, like a puppet on a string. It's manipulative. But there's enough polish on the film that it works. Ultimately, this is depressing but entertaining, a solid choice for a rainy night when no one feels like laughing.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how the characters cope with divorce and a death in the family. Do you think their reactions are realistic or too Hollywood? For kids who have experienced either event, what's missing in this movie? Is there a movie you can think of that's more realistic?

Movie Details

Inclusion information powered by

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate