The Stepford Wives (PG)

The Stepford Wives is one of the worst films my girlfriend has made me watch. Down there below the first Harry Potter film. The twist at the end is so obvious an articulate monkey could have told you it was coming. I reaaly wouldn't recommend it. Nicole Kidman doesn't look her best or indeed act her best as she has a pretty unchallenging role. Matthew Broderick is quite poor too, though I thought Christpher Walken was quite good. Anyway, here's the plot:

A couple of high-flying TV executives move to the country from the city to chill, only all the women of Stepford are actually robots, crazy.

Spoiler Alert - avoid this bit if you want to watch the film and not be disappointed at how easily you guessed the ending. What really got me was that Broderick wanted to turn his wife into a robot but didn't have the balls so she just pretended, yet she didn't seem at all upset that her husband would consider replacing her mind and free will with a microchip and a load of programmable functions. Ridiculous, but they all lived happily ever after so you can't complain, can you?

Don't watch this film, it's just not very good.

The Stepford Wives has an interesting cast: Matthew Broderick, Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Jon Lovitz, Glenn Close, Christopher Walken, Faith Hill, etc.

Nicole Kidman is a very high powered TV network executive. In fact, she is the network president. However, her shows border on going too far. They are like reality shows without any boundaries. When she was being introduced to a huge meeting with all of their affiliates, she was referred to as a "maverick" and a "wild card". Where else have you heard those terms? Well, it would be from Top Gun - and those were terms to describe her real life ex husband, Tom Cruise. I guess even Nicole can't help but watch Top Gun once in a while. A jilted lover from one of her shows, got his way into the meeting, and tried to shoot her. The network subsequently fired her, saying that she had gone too far with these "crazy" programs.

Nicole then had a mental breakdown. Her husband is played by Matthew Broderick. She is the alpha female, he is the beta male. He did some research on "Stepford" in the state of Connecticutt, and he decided to move their family while she recovers.

Stepford is humorous. All of the women dress in outfits that are either based on the 1950's, or the south, I couldn't exactly tell. They even wear dresses while exercising. It is definitely a mom takes care of the kids, and dad does whatever he wants type of town. The town comes complete with a men only country club, and a female only spa.

This film re-make has some interesting twists. For example, a gay male couple are new residents of stepford, as well. The alpha male is a gay republican, while the beta male is totally and flamboyantly, gay.

There are some actresses that I just can't appreciate, but they do very well in this movie. They include Bette Midler, as a "feminazi", as Rush Limbaugh would say - who is married to the Jon Lovitz character. The other actress would be Glenn Close. She plays a perfect "robot", who is married to Christopher Walken.

When Nicole recovers, Matthew and her get into a fight. She wants to leave Stepford and go back to NYC. He told her that things are going to change. He expects her to give this town a chance. He also told her that she can't wear black clothing anymore. He said that the only women that wear black are snobby, bitchy, career climbing, selfish, back stabbing females in Manhattan. "Is that who you want to be"?, he asked. "Only my whole life", she replied. As you can see, they need a lot of help...

The women spend their days doing things like preparing bake sales, attending book clubs, going to the spa, and of course keeping their houses spotless.

Nicole and Bette begin to think the women in the town are crazy. Bette even says, "All the women in this town are super hot, and all the men are nerds. Doesn't that strike you as odd"? Nicole replies, "No, it doesn't. But, then again, I work in television".

Well, the Stepford men initiate Matthew Broderick, who has been the beta male in every movie he has starred in, except for "Ferris Buellers Day Off". I don't think this role was much of a stretch for him. Christopher Walken is the town leader, and he shows Broderick how with a few computer chips imbedded in her brain, Nicole can become a true "Stepford" wife. He agrees to it.

Faith Hill is in this movie as well. She looks so perfect in her character. I think this role may open up future acting positions for her. She does a pretty good "robot" impersonation.

The end is a bit of a surprise, that is for sure. All the questions are answered, and it ties everything all together. This movie is funny, but I don't think it will win any awards. It is a short film too - clocking in at 1.5 hours. Somebody needs to tell Nicole Kidman to eat something, please. She looked very gaunt, at points, during this film. I give this movie a 7.5/10.