Let’s say it how it is: being a step-parent is one of the toughest jobs in the world. We don’t hear about stepdads that often but boy do we hear about stepmoms, since quite honestly this is one of the toughest jobs a woman can have. Not only are they expected to love for and care for a child that isn’t their own, but quite often they have the unenviable task of having to deal with the biological mother of the kids that are in their care as well, which can go a number of different ways. In the movies, it’s definitely possible to gloss over a few things here and there, but thankfully some of them manage to show just how hard it can really be and what kind of challenges there are to meet given that to kids that are old enough to remember their biological mother, there is often no substitute. There’s no doubt that one of the best things that can happen in a household is that all the adults get along, play nice, and don’t use the children as pawns against each other. But unfortunately, things do happen and true peace among the adults doesn’t always come that easily.
Here are a few of the best stepmoms in movie history.
5. Kim Basinger – My Stepmother Is An Alien
It was corny, it was over the top, and it was undeniably goofy, but that’s what made it so much fun as well. Kim’s character is an alien that came to earth with a mission to investigate a signal that had accidentally been sent. She and her helper, Bag, had also been sent to destroy the planet since the signal was seen as a threat. After learning more about the earth and its inhabitants though she managed to convince her people, after destroying the murderous Bag, that earth was worth saving and that they hadn’t attempted to attack their world after all. It was a fun and somewhat silly movie.
4. Amy Stoch – Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
This was definitely one of the strangest cases of a stepmom in the movies since Missy wasn’t that much older than Bill and Ted and would end up becoming Bill’s stepmother first, before moving on to Ted’s father, therefore becoming his stepmother. What’s even stranger is that later on when Bill and Ted Face the Music came out it was revealed that Missy was now marrying Deacon, Ted’s younger brother, which is just odd. She went from being a stepmother, twice, to being a sister-in-law, in the span of three movies and a few decades. That’s something you just don’t see all the time, thankfully.
3. Laura Dern – I Am Sam
So technically Laura’s character wasn’t really Lucy’s stepmom, she was more of a foster mother, but it’s hard not to count it since she and Sam didn’t see eye to eye all the time and Lucy was bound and determined to go back to her father. But it does feel as though it counts in spirit since Laura’s character meant a great deal to Lucy and the implication was there that Sam wanted her to be a part of his daughter’s life. In a situation such as the one seen in this movie, in which a mentally-handicapped parent needs all the help they can get raising their child, it definitely counts on several levels.
2. Juliane Hough – Safe Haven
It’s pretty much implied that Juliane’s character would marry the man she fell for while on the run from an abusive spouse. It’s very likely that there would be a lot of resentment from hiding her past and then having that past show up and cause so many problems. But at the same time, it’s obvious that she didn’t mean any harm and was simply trying to get away from a life that would have killed her eventually. Plus, the fact that the character of Jo had met and approved of the new woman in her widower husband’s life was a blessing and a reminder that people move on and they understand that those they love have to do the same.
1. Julia Roberts – Stepmom
This movie was bound to bring a lot of people to tears since it does highlight the plight of Julia Roberts’ character, considering that she never wanted kids but had to deal with the fact that her husband has two kids from a previous marriage. That would certainly make thing even tougher, but the biological mother, played by Susan Sarandon, undermining her every attempt to get to know the kids obviously didn’t help since at some point it’s made clear that Sarandon’s character is dying, and after all the crying is over and done with, it’s time to make peace in the family and accept that change is inevitable.
Here’s to the stepmoms, they’re appreciated more than they’ll ever know.
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