At first, we are supposed to feel sorry for Julia Roberts, since the Pretty Woman with a fabulous job is nonetheless burdened with two exasperating stepchildren and Harris' venomous ex. Later, we are supposed to feel sorry for Susan Sarandon, despite her acid tongue and ginormous house in the posh suburbs, since it turns out that she has terminal cancer. Meanwhile, the two children adopt ideal behavior, and little-used Ed Harris doesn't have to worry much about memorizing lines.
How others will see it. Aided by an A-list cast but held back by a manipulative story and a dull script, Stepmom drew mixed reviews. It was a moderate box office success and eeked out a Golden Globe nomination for Sarandon. However, the Academy Awards failed to follow that lead, despite their usual sympathy for characters beset by tragedy.
Fifteen years later, the movie has a respectable 32K user votes and an okay-to-middling user rating of 6.3. Given that the film is targeted to upper middle class white women in their 20s and 30s, it is unsurprising that a gender gap exists. But it dwindles with advancing age of the viewer, from 1.3 under 18, to 0.9 under 30, to 0.7 under 45, and finally a mere 0.3 difference over age 45 (6.1 from men versus 6.4 from women).
The declining gender gap demonstrates that as women age, they become better able to see through the film's emotional manipulations to recognize it for what it is.
How I felt about it. I found this movie very difficult to get through. Though well acted and photographed, it was alternately annoying, tedious, and bogus. Specifically, the scenes intended to invoke tears were boring, the scenes depicting conflict were unpleasant, and the bogus scenes are as follows:
Roberts learns that Malone has had a break-up with her cute but insolent tweenie boyfriend. She instructs Malone to insult him at the next opportunity (i.e. when there is a suitable audience to overhear) by calling him a "limp-dick." Aiken giggles at this, even though he is several feet away, playing pinball, and is too young to know what an erection is.
When this rehearsed, concocted insult is ultimately delivered, we (i.e. me, myself, and I) wonder why said boytoy doesn't respond with something like, "that's not what you said when you were [explicit sexual reference deleted]." Of course, a good comeback from the cute guy would detract from Malone's feel-good peer triumph.
Also aggravating are the many shots of Sarandon's million dollar house, which comes with a horse and a horse trail through an adjoining forest.
We wonder how Roberts, a beautiful hotshot New York City fashion photographer, would even meet, let alone marry, the much older, balding, and decidedly ordinary Ed Harris, especially after meeting his insulting daughter and dippy son.
We also roll our eyes at the school play, which has sets and costumes equal to a Hollywood movie, and every child of the many in it has the face and voice of an angel. Both Malone and Aiken appear in the play despite a six-year age difference, which should have them attending different schools.
We understand why the film's writer knows the Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell duet "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." We wonder, though, how Malone and Aiken, who were born many years after it was recorded, know the lyrics well enough to sing along, and why they would identify with it to being with. And do they have to play it on three different occasions? The duo did have other hit songs that don't pretend the lovers would swim across rivers and hike across mountains to reach each other.
Finally, we are amazed at Roberts' restraint. She manages to get through the entire film without once grabbing and shaking either Sarandon or her spoiled daughter Malone. It would have been the one scene in the film worth watching again.