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STEPMOM SUMMARY

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The movie starts out with Julia Roberts (Isabel), as the “stepmom”, taking care of Susan Sarandon (Jackie) and Ed Harris’ (Luke) children. As she struggles to get the kids ready for school it becomes obvious that the children are not open to the idea of their dad's new girlfriend. Throughout the movie you can tell that much of the kids’ (Anna and Ben) attitudes toward Isabel stem from their mother. At one point Ben, the son, even tells his mother, "mommy, if you want me to hate her, I will." This shows just how much children are influenced by watching their parents and how they mimic their behaviors and attitudes. Later in the movie Jackie is diagnosed with cancer. In an attempt to tell her ex-husband of her illness, she meets him for dinner. I find it incredible that the divorced couple is able to meet for dinner. I think their attempts to get along shows how much they care about their children. Luke even asks Jackie permission, so to speak, before he proposes to Isabel. Also, the two parents choose to tell their kids the news together. With the new engagement, Anna gets even more upset over Isabel being in her life. As a response, Jackie tells the kids to try to see the good in Isabel. With encouragement from her mother, Anna slowly begins to accept Isabel. Seeing her kids warm up to Isabel while she is sick and receiving chemotherapy makes Jackie feel as though she is being replaced. When Jackie tells her ex-husband about her cancer he responds by saying, “we’ll fight it.” I think this shows how much the parents still care about each other. My favorite scene is when Jackie, Anna, and Ben all sing and dance together around the house to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” No matter how many times I’ve seen this movie, this scene always makes me smile. At the kids’ school play for Thanksgiving, Isabel tells Jackie about Anna’s latest boy drama. It is in this scene that the two, mom and stepmom, are seen as clearly overcoming their differences in order to better get along. Isabel even goes out of her way to fill Jackie’s room with pictures of the kids while Jackie is away receiving treatment. Jackie learns that her treatment was not successful and decides to

Barker 2 STEPMOM SUMMARY spend her last moments at home with her family rather than pursuing further treatment. At one point Jackie and Isabel go out to dinner and Isabel shares her fear is that Anna will be wishing for her mother on her wedding day, and Jackie says that her fear is that she wouldn’t wish for her to be there. Jackie then tells Isabel that she will have the kids past but Isabel can have their future. At Christmas, Isabel is takes a picture of Luke, Jackie and the kids and Jackie says, “okay, now lets do one with the whole family.” This is the closing line of the movie and perfectly sums up how all of the relationships have developed throughout the movie to include Isabel, not only their stepmom by marriage, but truly as part of their family....