Review of Stepmom (1998) by Gareth R — 15 Nov 2009

"Drama" is not a label that appeals to me. What the hell does it mean? Doesn't every story have some element of drama in it? Of course, there's usually something else besides that, be it comedy, horror or romance, otherwise you'd just have a bunch of moody people having things happen to them. Stepmom, for example.

Luke (Ed Harris) is about a year into his relationship with Isabel (Julia Roberts), but he's still in contact with his ex-wife, Jackie (Susan Sarandon). Luke and Jackie's two kids are having a hard time accepting Isabel; Isabel feels unappreciated in general, no thanks to Jackie, who takes every opportunity to pick holes in her fledgeling parenting skills; little Anna (Jena Malone) is growing up, which means Jackie and Isabel butt heads over how to guide her; and then Jackie develops cancer, which pretty much monopolises everything else that's going on.

We begin after the story starts, and wrap up before it ends. (There's no Dead Jackie money shot, in case you're wondering.) The resulting narrative - credited to five writers - just sort of floats. Things happen, people react. Occasionally their troubled relationships repair themselves a bit, but then they're thrown right back into chaos by unprovoked mood swings that would embarrass Jackie's kids. Describing what it's about is pretty difficult, thanks to the lack of a finite beginning or end; the best one can hope for is to list the things that happen. That's why reviewers tend to spoil the bit about Jackie's cancer. Their reviews would be quite short, otherwise.

As always with a film written by committee rather than an individual, there's a lack of focus. It's called Stepmom, but Isabel is too often marginalised by the story. For that matter, she and Luke never actually get around to their wedding, and Jackie visits quite frequently, meaning there isn't a lot of "stepmom" stuff going on. The stepmom aspect is still the strongest and most interesting - as it doesn't take a rocket scientist to progress plots like "She gets cancer" - so I guess that's why it's in the title. (Well, would you go and see a movie called Dad's New Girlfriend Who Hopes To Become Our Stepmom But Mom Has Cancer?) But there's still plenty of other stuff cluttering up the screenplay, and so nailing down a synopsis - or even a title - is hard work.

It's all rather clumsy. The symbolism, for example. A new mom comes into the kids' lives, so the old one dies? How charmingly subtle. (However, just so the film can have its cake and eat it, Jackie doesn't actually croak, and the two "moms" do sort of become friends, when they're not suddenly yelling at each other.) Sarandon and Roberts are strong enough actors to make us invest in them - although I only invested in Jackie to the extent of really not liking her - but Ed Harris can't seem to summon a single emotion. He should probably be one of the key characters, but he's just sort of strangely conspicuous.

There are laughs, and there are tears, but in my case they all belonged to the characters. Stepmom is a Stuff Happening To People kind of movie, which is probably why I've already forgotten chunks of it. Perhaps if they'd sheared away the clumsy cancer plot, and given the film a stronger main character (Well? Is it Isabel, or Jackie?), I'd know what to make of it. It's sadly tempting just to write it off as a middle-of-the-road chick flick, which is a polite way of saying there's not enough substance and the characters talk a lot about their feelings. Come to think of it, I think I know why Ed Harris looks so lost.