Stepmom
TriStar Pictures | Release Date: December 25, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
New Times (L.A.)Jean Oppenheimer
A genuinely affecting movie that approaches its adult themes with intelligence, maturity, and rare authenticity. Read full review
80
Washington PostRita Kempley
If emotional catharsis is what you seek, Stepmom delivers the goods. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
A film that's sad and poignant but not without humorous moments. Read full review
75
San Francisco ExaminerG. Allen Johnson
About as warm, pleasing and inviting as a film about divorce, infidelity and terminal cancer can be. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
To its credit, the film doesn't sugarcoat its women too monstrously, and it lets real conflicts and opinions occasionally creep in. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Everything about the film suggests that its makers consider it a deep, emotionally probing drama, but it's merely a soap opera with elevated production values and a sterling cast. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
It may be unfair to ask a film like this not to be shamelessly manipulative, but wouldn't it be nice if audiences could be trusted to feel things more or less on their own without layers of unnecessary hokum entering the picture? Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It's not without moments of wit and powerful emotion, but somehow Stepmom never feels either real enough to move us deeply or bubbly enough to make us forget our woes. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Too loud, bright and shallow for its subject: a movie that pushes too many obvious buttons to build naturally to the big, heartbreaking climax it obviously wants. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyF. X. Feeney
Less a movie about stepfamilies than a PSA about how cancer makes everyone behave themselves at Christmas. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
In a lumbering way, this depressing feel-good drama about the impact of cancer on two children, their divorced parents, and the father's girlfriend offers some useful insights into how feelings of jealousy and betrayal can limit the potential of family relationships. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie Errigo
That this is a patchwork quilt of a screenplay (written by five credited writers) is apparent in its use of little bits of this and little bits of that. Did none of them notice, looking at the big picture, that it's unbelievable? Read full review
50
Village VoiceAmy Taubin
Loathsome though Stepmom is, the eternally coltish Roberts is always a pleasure to watch and Sarandon's mordant wit occasionally comes to the fore. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleHollis Chacona
These characters are too remote, too pretty, and too unrealistic to move us in any lasting way. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The skill of the actors, who invest their characters with small touches of humanity, is useful in distracting us from the emotional manipulations, but it's like they're brightening separate rooms of a haunted house. Read full review
50
TimeRichard Schickel
A pretty but utterly misleading picture in which cheap sentiment is used to supply easy, false resolutions to agonizing issues. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The movie is reasonably smart and touching when it deals with the plight of a family on the rocks, but it pushes too many emotional buttons when the ex-wife is diagnosed with a fatal illness that proceeds to take over the story. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Now the mush has taken over, and Columbus has slowed his pace in nervous deference to the solemnity of his plot (not to mention the opulence of his characters' lives). Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyStaff(not credited)
Older and younger movie star snipe and glare at each other with little subtlety, and little chemistry either. The two characters appear to be skirmishing only because they're supposed to by convention. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineSandra Contreras
The most impressive thing about it is that the actors manage to sound so earnest while mouthing the most shameless cliches imaginable. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This is the kind of tearjerker that will cause audience members to cry, but only because they paid hard-earned money to see it. Read full review
More From This Movie

58 Critic Reviews

7.3 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL