Buy The Stepford Wives

The Stepford Wives (2004)

Paramount / Year: 2004

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Synopsis

Matthew Broderick, Glenn Close, Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler and Christopher Walken star in this gay-friendly comedy about a suburban Connecticut town where the husbands replace their wives with complacent, servant-like robots.

Review

Director Frank Oz (In and Out) and writer Paul Rudnick (Jeffrey) have taken the 1975 horror/camp feminist classic about mesmerized, servant-wives and brought it to modern era with campy, tongue-in-cheek comedy. The film opens with a cheery montage of happy housewives and their gadgets and moves on to depict wives who have been replaced by robots by their sexist husbands. Both the original and the latest update are adaptations of Ira Levin's ("Compulsion") novel which is more a piece of horror than this latest sugar-coated, funny creation. Glenn Close, Bette Midler, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick and Christopher Walken bring an all-star level to this less-than-successful-theatrical flop we enjoyed!

Stepford, Conn is a pleasant middle-class suburb whose menfolk, threatened by the burgeoning feminism of their wives, have killed them off and replaced them with complacent robots. The performances from Glenn Close as the matriarch; Bette Midler as the Jewish rebel; Nicole Kidman as the ruthless, stressed-out television executive; and Christopher Walken as the patriarch are all over-the-top which, combined with the wild sets and loud music, make this a queer, camp classic. Of particular interest to gay viewers is the presence of a gay male couple. Roger Bart (femme) and David Marshall Grant (butch) play a couple with all the same stereotypical roles as their hetero counterparts. This might be a step forward...

-- Scott Cranin

Keywords

Camp, Gender Issues, Horror/Science Fiction/Fantasy

Genres

Comedy

Customer Reviews

Pray for Exposition

Tormented by Harpies wrote on 09/06/2005:

I was hoping the deleted scenes may have given a bit more depth to the rock-pool shallow story but alas, no. Still - it's always good to see Midler's Wally Jumblatts - shame she has to do a Dynomutt impression too.

A dull, lifeless remake

Isles of Capri wrote on 09/23/2004:

Matthew Broderick is the center of inactivity and boredom in the lifeless and dull remake of a fun classic. There are enormous continuity problems, leaving gaping holes in the plot you could fall through. Bette Midler sparkles in her role, but it cannot save this mess of a movie. The jokes are so bad, they weren't even funny. When I went to see it in its premier, the audience only laughed a couple times, and mostly seemed bored.