Stepmom . Tucson Weekly . 01-11-99

Stepmom

DIRECTED BY: Chris Columbus

REVIEWED: 01-11-99

Joan Collins and Linda Evans taught us how to take care of deep hatred when they had knockdown brawls on Dynasty. Sadly, but a decade later, Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon have forgotten this very satisfying solution to sisterhood gone awry. And we the viewers are the ones who suffer most, because I would have liked nothing better than to see those two end up scantily clad in a fountain, flailing and screaming "take that, you witch!" and "nice dye job!" Unfortunately, the lesson of Stepmom is not so wholesome, though it is one we've gotten before: If you want to be a good mom, you can't work. So all we get are a few G-rated verbal insults dished out by the dying Susan, such as, "You were late picking my kids up!" and "You don't know how to be a good mother!" Julia then quits her glamorous job as a high-fashion photographer and loses her leather pants to hang out with Susan and learn how to properly rear the bratty kids of her suspiciously absent fiancée (Ed Harris). If forced bonding is your thing, go for it; but I think it's kind of sick. I'd rather stay home and watch Heather Locklear kick everybody's ass on Melrose Place.

--Higgins

Capsule Reviews
Stepmom
Stepmom

Other Films by Chris Columbus
Bicentennial Man
Nine Months

Film Vault Suggested Links
A Slipping-Down Life
The Deli
Wide Awake

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