“The Stepford Wives” hits theaters loaded down with pre-release baggage of the negative variety. Reports of fighting on the set, diva behavior, reshoots, and a director who was disliked by the cast – all these rumors and more have circulated, picking up steam as the release date approached. But does any of that really matter? Don’t we care more about what’s up on the screen than what goes on behind it? Shouldn’t we be judging a film by its content and not by the gossip and innuendo surrounding the making of said motion picture? You don’t have to like an actor to like a movie. Film sets don’t have to be the most harmonious settings on the planet. And actors and directors do not have to become lifelong friends in order to create a movie worth investing the time and money to sit through. And frankly speaking, how many interviews with actors, directors, writers or producers have you read where the people involved came out and admitted they hated everyone they worked with and were glad to be done with the project? Not many. Yet you know it happens all the time. What it really boils down to is that most movies do a good job of keeping their on-set problems hidden. “The Stepford Wives,” unfortunately, did not, and now the junk floating around about the filming – true or not – clouds the issue of whether the film’s entertaining. Rant over – back to the review.
If you remember the basic premise of the original “The Stepford Wives,” then you’re already familiar with the concept behind this 2004 version. Nicole Kidman stars as Joanna Eberhart, a high-powered TV network executive who gets fired after creating a reality show which results in one of the participants shooting his ex-wife and her new boy toys. After Joanna’s brief stay in a mental institute, her husband Walter (Matthew Broderick) decides it’s best to leave the big city and all its stress behind, pack up the kids, and move the family to the quaint little town of Stepford, Connecticut. First hint you’re in for something a little out of the ordinary: your name must be on a list for you to even enter the gated town.
Coming out of her electric shock therapy stupor, Joanna discovers there’s something creepy about the women of Stepford: they all look like Faith Hill… I mean, they’re all picture perfect with tartar-free teeth, pearls that match their Happy Homemaker outfits, and all have immaculate homes to match their immaculate lives. With new best buddies and fellow non-conformists Bobbie (Bette Midler) and Roger (Roger Bart – scene stealer extraordinaire) at her side, Joanna tries to get to the bottom of all the Stepford weirdness before she too is ‘changed’ into a Stepford drone.
“The Stepford Wives” starts off well, lags in the middle, and finishes fairly strong. Kidman’s fun to watch as she goes from a woman on top of the corporate world to a woman who thinks she’s about to become a robot. Midler and her onscreen husband, Jon Lovitz, toss a few zingers back and forth, and Glenn Close as the woman behind the man behind the transformations is suitably creepy. Broderick’s performance, considering the fact he’s supposed to be a man who holds all the cards, comes across as way too weak, too much of a milquetoast-type performance for that character. Faith Hill is pretty to look at, which is about all that’s required of her as a Stepford Wife.
“The Stepford Wives” doesn’t delve into social issues. In fact, it doesn’t really take a stand on any issue – including the central issue of turning intelligent women into mindless slaves. The humor spins between biting sarcasm and easy punchlines, taking the easy road a few too many times for my taste but still managing to get me to laugh out loud fairly often. The plot confused me at times as I never really figured out what happens to the women during the ‘change’. I thought I had it figured out until a scene where Nicole Kidman looks down at her doppelganger lying on a slab. If the women have chips implanted in their brains, why is there a pod person double of Kidman? Maybe I missed something, but that just didn’t make any sense.
It’s been a while since I watched the original movie, so I didn’t have that fresh in my mind when I watched this 2004 version. Taken as a comedy – and forgetting all of what I construe to be misleading advertisements, along with the pre-lease baggage – “The Stepford Wives” was a decent adult comedy featuring a few great performances mixed in with a few ho-hum moments. Looking for social commentary? Stay home and watch the news. Looking for a fairly entertaining summer comedy? Then check out “The Stepford Wives.”
GRADE: B-
