The Stepford Wives Review
by Bob Bloom (bob AT bloomink DOT com)June 14th, 2004
The Stepford Wives (2004) 2 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken, Roger Bart, Faith Hill and
Glenn Close. Music by David Arnold. Based upon the book by Ira Levin. Screenplay by Paul Rudnick. Directed by Frank Oz. Rated PG-13. Running time: Approx. 90 mins.
Your first reaction to The Stepford Wives is akin to chagrin. Why, you ask yourself, are these talented people — Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Glenn Close
and Christopher Walken — overplaying their roles almost to the point of cartoon
caricatures.
Then there's the sitcom-like score and the pauses as if the cast were waiting
for a laugh track.
What a disaster, you think. But then you realize this is how screenwriter Paul
Rudnick and director Frank Oz planned their film.
Both have shaken hands with comedy before, Rudnick as the writer of the Addams
Family films as well as In & Out, and Oz as director of Little Shop of Horrors,
In & Out and Bowfinger.
The two has taken Ira Levin's book, which was filmed once before in 1975 as a
straight thriller with a script by William Goldman, and turned into a manic comedy that nearly touches on farce, a male chauvinist fantasy that even Hugh Hefner would disavow.
The problem is that Rudnick and Oz do not know when to stop; they overuse the
situations, overplay their hand. They are so full of themselves that they forgot one important ingredient — character.
Kidman, Midler, Close, Matthew Broderick, Walken, Faith Hill and the rest of the cast aren't people, their stereotypes, puppets manipulated by Oz as if he was still working with Jim Henson and the Muppets.
Kidman plays Joanna, a TV network president who suffers a nervous breakdown after being fired. Broderick is her patient husband, Walter, who worked at the
same network as a vice president and quit his job to show support for his spouse.
The couple and their two children move to Stepford, Conn., to start over, heal
the rift in their marriage and try to connect with their children.
Of course, Joanna, immediately notices the strange behavior of the women of Stepford — all blondes, all stylishly dressed, all content to cook, bake and have afternoon sex with their husbands.
If you are familiar with the book or movie you know why the women act as they
do and what is in store for Joanna.
But at about 90 minutes the movie seems to just race through the proceedings so you never develop any feeling for the characters.
Broderick seems lost as Walter. He walks through the film as if he wandered onto the wrong set.
Kidman's driven personality, her stridence, are grating to the point you wish
she was transformed.
Coming out best are Midler as the slovenly author who casts a jaundiced eye on
the community as she constantly bickers with her frustrated husband, Dave (Jon
Lovitz), and Close, who plays mother hen to the wives.
A twist of an ending that turns the crux of the story on its ear saves Rudnick
and Oz from self-destruction.
The Stepford Wives provides several funny moments, yet somehow it fails to coalesce as a whole. It's bright and entertaining, but seems that, with the assembled cast and the talent behind the camera, much potential was wasted.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He
can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at [email protected]. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal and Courier
Web site: www.jconline.com
Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes Web site: www.rottentomatoes.com or at the Internet Movie Database Web site:
www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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