Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

cineastFGD I'm a huge fan of Julia Roberts, for me she's one of the last remaining great Hollywood icons. However, this film is probably one of the most dreadful movies I've ever seen and it's really beyond me how she could every agree to act in this movie. Something that really made me hate the movie, is the completely uncritically displayed behaviour of the father. There is just one word for such a guy and that is 'jerk'. He does not take care of his sick ex-wife, he does not take care of his kids, and he destroys the most promising career of a young woman, just to replace his boring and wrinkled wife with a younger model. Of course the new girlfriend steps in when the Mum needs treatment and Daddy is absent again (wonder why he can afford two enormously expensive houses but no babysitter), sure she even looses her job over this, and sure she's the selfless angel that meets every insult and bad mouthed comment with a smile, that throws away a successful career for someone else's kids; just because of looove. What a terrible and outdated gender cliché, and I'm sure no one over 16 will buy this story.If you haven't already been nauseated by this plot, you surly will be by the tacky dialogues and scenes, which if it wasn't enough already, are sugarcoated with a non-stop layer of cheesy background music. This film leaves you with the feeling of sticky caramel between your teeth and of a disgusting overdose of sugary candy in your mental stomach. The cancer illness of the mother is portrayed so believably as if a 40 BMI person was dying of anorexia. Seems like dying of cancer is just a piece of cake and mostly a matter of lying elegantly in some chair wrapped in a shawl. This is probably the most pathetic part of the movie. Unless you are really into unrealistic, blimpish, and corny movies, save your time and watch something else.

evanston_dad 1998 gave audiences two major moms dying pictures, one of them "One True Thing" with Meryl Streep and Renee Zellweger and the other "Stepmom." Chris Columbus directed this. There, that's all you need to know. Filmed like a T.V. sitcom but with the content of a Hallmark movie, it's paint by numbers film-making that works overtime trying to wrench tears from its audience. That it does is only because it's about a subject that would make anyone with a half-way functioning heart cry, not because of any skill on Columbus's part.Julia Roberts and especially Susan Sarandon do a fair job of keeping the overly-abundant sentimentality at bay, but they have to fight Columbus every step of the way.Grade: C+

amyash1966 As a stepmom, I have quite a few things to say about this film. I think this is one of the worst films the great Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts have ever been in. This is basically about a man who is divorced with 2 kids who has a new, much younger girlfriend. I don't want to explain everything about the movie, just a few annoying points. First of all, the biological mother played by Sarandon lives in an incredibly beautiful and expensive home in Connecticut. She also has lots of land and horses. Sarandon apparently does not work either. The father played by Harris lives in the city in another incredibly beautiful and expensive place and they all drive expensive cars. How is this possible? With the bio-mom receiving the house, the child support and alimony payments it's a wonder he is not living in a 1 bedroom apartment. According to the way everybody is living, he must be a multi millionaire. Of course the new girlfriend, Roberts, is a trendy fashion photographer. Uygh. It seems everybody has lots of money. That is what irks me, because along with all the drama involved in being part of a blended family, one major problem is money. Ex- wives taking their ex-husbands back to court for more support, etc.. The struggles of the second family to make ends meet because 30% of the fathers income is going to his ex-wife. Apparently this is not an issue here. Another thing is the ex-husband, Harris, meets his ex- wife, Sarandon for dinner to discuss the fact that he will be asking his girlfriend, Roberts, to marry him. Come on. I can understand telling the bio-mom before you tell the kids, but telling her before you give your girlfriend the ring? It was like he was asking permission from his ex-wife to ask his girlfriend to marry him. It's so nice that ex-spouses can get along so well. Detect sarcasm. Oooh, if I found out my fiancé did that he'd be in a world of trouble. Another thing that irked me was that Roberts received a call on the job to pick up her future stepson at school. Apparently, the mom and dad could not do it and nobody else was available. I believe you have to be on a list at the school to be allowed to remove children for the safety of the kids. How did the fathers girlfriend get on that list? Please. So she risks her job to pick up a child that she is not responsible for. She goes back to her photo shoot in the park with the kid, but he wanders off. He eventually gets found, but when the bio mom finds out she is furious, and files a restraining order against Roberts. Huh? How about reprimanding the kid for wandering off when he was specifically told not to, and then not allowing Roberts to take responsibility for the kids ever again? If Roberts lives with the kids father, a restraining order seems quite ridiculous. I have to say, that this film shows a fantasy that most stepmoms have when dealing with unreasonable, jealous ex-wives. That fantasy is the bio mom dying. Yes, Sarandon has cancer and is going to die. How wonderful that would be for so many non custodial stepmoms, no more alimony, child support payments, a hefty life insurance policy payout, and no more controlling ex-wife poisioning the kids against their father and stepmom. But this is a fantasy, not reality. This film ends up not about being a stepmom and having a successful family, but tying up loose ends and preparing the kids for having a replacement mom when the bio mom dies.

Alejandro Marrón God, i can't believe this movie is rated 6.2. It should at least be rated 7.5, and it could even be 8.5!Let's just say this movie is the one that has moved me and made me cry the most in my whole life. Well, moved me in a sad way.I don't know what kind of ability Susan Sarandon's got, but all she did in this movie made me cry. She's such a good actress, and this movie suits her perfectly.I've never been much of a Julia Roberts' fan, considering i find Notting Hill and pretty woman kind of boring, but i loved her in this movie, how she really tries to bond with the kids and Susan to get to the point where the kids almost rather being with her than with their mom. Julia gives her best, in my opinion, she is a very good actress as well. Drama suits her.The kids are the other thing that gives movie that amazing flavor. How the girl answer to Susan, Julia and her dad is just so sad and good. Klaus Baudelaire's actor is so small and great as the little kid, who knows enough of the situation and gives the movie it's nice and happy moment.I didn't think the husband was anything important.And, of course, what makes this movie as sad and as great as it is, is the incredible directing of Chris Columbus, who directed two of the movies of my favorite movie series and book series: Harry Potter. I don't know why, but he's just got this gift for directing. Oh god, when i saw it i didn't know it was Columbus', and when i realized i now know why it's great.Some may say it's melodramatic, but i wouldn't agree. It's just good drama, one of those were you can't stop crying but that has a good plot involved as well.Bottom line, loved it. Very enjoyable and i recommend it highly. Good job Columbus, as usual.