Stepmom

Rating:
Summary: An emotional yet appealing movie.
Review: This is a wonderful story which touched my heart. It revolves around a woman and her two children who learn to accept the other woman in their life. Julia Roberts looks charming, and is very convincing in her role of a step-mom.The kids really steal your heart especially Ben. The story has its ups and downs, though it ends on a happy note. It teahes us how life depends to a great extent on co-operation and how important a family is. A must see.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent ! Brings tears to the eyes
Review: This movie is great. You just HAVE to watch it. A superb performance by Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts. The two kids are great too. Susan's fear of losing her children to their stepmom and her fighting a losing battle with cancer brought tears to my eyes. I was crying throughtout the second half of the film. I think that Susan Sarandon should have got a Best Actress Oscar Nomination for this movie. Julia Roberts' potrayal of a career woman suddenly forced to take on the role of a housewife, mothering two children who hate her, was good. Go Watch It !!

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding acting by Julia Roberts and Susan Surrandon
Review: Julia Roberts is one of today's best acters, in stepmom she acts a the stepmom. With her friend Susan Surrandon they light up the screen. Make sure to bring lots of tissues to this extraordinary move!

Rating:
Summary: good movie
Review: excellent performance from ed harris, julia roberts and especially the little boy.

Rating:
Summary: it is very effective as it makes people cry
Review: i have found myself in the story.Because Ý really live the same thing.Maybe as the children. But the tears flowing from my eyes are my life and my feelings.And so it is great.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This is such a brilliant film! In the first half I was laughing hysterically, but in the second half I was crying hysterically !!!!! I LURVE IT ! When the mom told her son at Xmas that they would see each other in their dreams I nearly died !!!

Rating:
Summary: sad and touching
Review: a mother of two kids is diagnosed with cancer and she wants to try and do everything her kids and she does not want the "stepmom do it with them she wants to do it

Rating:
Summary: WELL DONE
Review: This five-hanky "women's picture" was unfairly shut out of the Oscar race a few years back. It features a mostly terrific -- and consciously sentimental -- screenplay that allows its two stars, Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon, to cover new territory as actresses. The biting, realistic dialog between two strong, competitive women resonates with the ring of truth. The children in the movie shine throughout, and Ed Harris is, as usual, appealing, masculine, bringing gravity to his role as the man in the middle. The Christmas settings, the snowfalls, the terminal illness, and the classic song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" all combine to produce more than a few well-earned tears, none more so than in the final ten minutes. Chris Columbus, the director, allows delicate, and sometimes not so delicate, humor, to ease the real pain of many of these well-wraught scenes. The Hollywood gloss notwithstanding, this is one of those human, heartfelt explorations into some unchartered territory. If you love movies you can cry with, you'll love Stepmom.

Rating:
Summary: Focuses on family and children.
Review: Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon light up the screen in "Stepmom," a heartwarming and emotionally involving comedy/drama which tells the story of two women, one divorced, the other married to her ex-husband, and the hurdles they must jump in order to find a common ground of understanding. The movie has it laughs, tears, and an upbeat attitude that keeps going throughout, telling its story in an appealing fashion with the help of its brilliant cast and director Chris Columbus. You can enjoy this movie for everything it has to offer and feel satisfied in the end with how you spent your time; I did.

Jackie and Luke are divorced, which is emotionally taxing on their two children, Anna and Ben, Anna refusing to accept the fact that her parents are never getting back together again. Ben is too young to understand much of what is going on; he merely aides Anna in making Luke's girlfriend, Isabel, completely miserable. This includes hounding her for unwashed laundry, putting down her lunches, and just about anything they can to make it look like they have been treated with less care than they would under their mother. The movie's setup of these relationships between different characters is well-done, keeping its focus on the children's actions and their feelings on the situations they are put into.

As most ex-wives will do, Jackie is condescending of Isabel, looking down on her as a self-centered woman who cares more for her work and personal life than for the children under her care. They have many sparring sessions and heated arguments, but it's clear that they cannot argue forever, and as the children begin to warm to Isabel, so does the friendship between Jackie and Isabel begin to form. Soon, they are helping each other through tough times, trading tips on caring for the children, but still maintaining that small spark of conflict which will surface time and again as Jackie realizes her children are no longer solely under her influence.

The movie deals with a lot of real-to-life family issues that will hit home with most viewers and is sure to strike an emotional chord in audiences everywhere. One of those issues is the fact that a divorce is more about how to deal with the children than about getting on with life. The movie does not take away the focus from the childrens' feelings towards their situation. At one point, Anna stands up and shouts, "You didn't ask me if I wanted a new mother!" The story is still about the feud between Jackie and Isabel, but this feud centers around what each of them feels is best for the children, keeping with the fact that in a divorce, they are the ones who are most affected.

Actors Jena Malone and Liam Aiken, Anna and Ben, do a terrific job in bringing out all of that emotion and feeling in their characters. Aiken's character is not required to be as emotional as Malone's: he is only eight years old in the movie, and does not clearly understand what his parents are going through. He is merely along for the ride, going with what his parents say and what his sister wants, and Aiken brings all of that childhood innocence out perfectly and with believability. Malone must provide a much more involved role: her character is older, and lashes out against her father for leaving his mother and preparing to be with a woman half his age. Malone is full of tears, anger, and laughs, and her performance is heartwrenching and convincing.

Another issue is embedded in the relationship between Jackie and Isabel. Jackie has the maternal instinct where Isabel is trying her best, and the story is intensified emotionally by the clashes in how they feel the children should be raised. When Jackie realizes that Isabel is going to be a permanent part of her children's lives, she also comes to the realization that she cannot keep arguing with her about how to raise the children. As they come to an understanding of one another, it's intriguing to watch the two actresses interact onscreen.

Susan Sarandon is plays Jackie, who is stubborn and becomes quite disturbed when Isabel steps onto her turf. She brings out all this emotion and feeling, as well as her actions and reactions, convincingly, matching the performance of Roberts, her opposite. Roberts is Isabel, and she brings all the brightness and charm of her own person into the role while also maintaining a short emotional fuse. It is easy to see that the two actresses are having fun in their roles, and their pairing for this movie is outstanding. Their performances make this one of the best movies of the year. Ed Harris plays the part of Luke, who knows how Jackie feels but wishes that she and Isabel would be able to come to an understanding of one another. His performance is earnest and warming, and like his costars, he makes his role believable and interesting.

"Stepmom" is one of those feel-good movies that was able to keep my interest throughout. There is a twist in the plot that I dare not even mention, because the filmmakers and producers have done a pretty good job of not giving it away in the promotional material. There is a lot of love between the characters, brought out by the stellar cast and a director whose films in this field have excelled. Based on emotional depth and connectivity, "Stepmom" is a nice piece of heart that is filled with true human feeling.

Rating:
Summary: Stepmom
Review: Stepmom was a good drama film. I have seen this movie several times and it is still a tearjerker to me. It is a movie that has you laughing at some parts, but crying throughout most of it. The plot in this movie was continuous, there were not many dull moments. I find myself getting bored very quickly through movies, but I did not get bored in this movie, and I still don't after seeing in multiple times. The actors and actresses did a well job playing the roles of their characters. The children played their roles exceptionally well. Overall, Stepmom was a excellent drama that is a movie you should watch if you are in the mood for some laughs as well as some tears.