Review of The Stepford Wives (2004) by Steven V — 25 Jun 2009

The original movie and the great novel that preceded it are worthy of a better treatment than this lighthearted, anti-suspenseful, Hollywood variety show. What's more, the excellent veteran cast, the catchy soundtrack and the expensive production values could have made this into the socially serious, poignant and yet funny contemporary masterwork it should have been.

Instead, we are left with a movie whose campiest moments are clichés and whose point seems to be love conquers all - even the sexism, genderism and masculocentrism still rampant in American Society today.

This movie, although the central plot is interesting and strong, the lack of even a shred of seriousness detracts very heavily from it - even from a comedic point of view. If this movie hadn't made me disinterested, the feminist in me would have simply been angry over the missed opportunity this movie represents.

Moreover, it is possible to see this movie as a justification of the 'blame the victim' mentality so often prevalent in contemporary culture. Most of the cast seems equally unengaged. They sometimes seem to be playing roles in different movies - interacting with each other poorly and playing their roles with no particular goal in mind.

I can only fault the director here. Matthew Broderick and Nicole Kidman are, as usual, very watchable, but even Nicole Kidman seems to be unsure what her character is supposed to be portraying at times.

Bette Midler is fine, as are Christopher Walken and Glenn Close. Glenn Close was actually, the show stealer - making the movie tolerable with her excruciatingly irritating and very dominant presence. While not a complete travesty, I can not recommend The Stepford Wives.