This movie has a great cast, but stealing scenes from big timers like Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon is Jena Malone, as Anna, the young girl who can't accept her father (Ed Phillips) leaving her mother and moving in with a young woman. Anna really is terrible in her tantrums and snubbings and nastiness directed at her stepmom Isabelle (Roberts). But you can see why she would be like that. Almost as nasty is Sarandon's character, who belittles and berates Isabelle. It's a tiny bit disturbing that the Dad essentially side-steps all the drama and doesn't have to deal with it. Particularly since he broke up the family. It's a bit sexist that the women are catty and bitchy. Sometimes the movie is a bit preachy and predictable. But it does try to portray the journey that people in these situations can go through before some sort of harmony is restored.
Review of Stepmom
