In Brief: Save Your Money.
The Stepford Wives is a black comedic remake of the 1975 thriller, which was based on a novel by Ira Levin. Written by Paul Rudnick, directed by Frank Oz.
Nicole Kidman .... Joanna Eberhart
Bette Midler .... Bobbi Markowitz
Matthew Broderick .... Walter Kresby
Christopher Walken .... Mike Wellington
Faith Hill .... Sarah Sunderson
Glenn Close .... Claire Wellington
Roger Bart .... Roger Bannister
Jon Lovitz .... Dave Markowitz
As I was sitting through the first half hour of this, my thoughts were, "Paramount is making this porker their big summer movie. They should cancel its release and bury it." It got a bit better as it sloshed toward the end of its skimpy 92 minute running time, but it still comes up short. Nicole Kidman (sporting a hairdo that looks like a bowl was put over her head) tries valiantly, but she is unable to overcome the pointless script. The worst performance, however, is delivered by Glenn Close, as Stepford's real estate agent. She is capable of being really creepy (witness her in Fatal Attraction.) Instead, she is still in Cruella De Ville mode, and embarssingly overacts to the hilt.
Screenwriter Paul Rudnick also wrote the awful gay-outing film In and Out. Interestingly, Edgar J. Scherick, producer of the original, is one of the credited producers on this version. According to IMDB, Mr. Scherick died in December, 2002.
One nitpick is a shot of Nicole Kidman printed backwards.
If you must see this, wait for the DVD. Don't spend $10.25.
I bet the premise was changed. Spoiler alert: would chips in the brain really produce electrical sparks by the ears?
I don't know I'd still like to see this one.
Also I LIKED In & Out.
Something I don't get- (SPOILER ALERT)
If all the men do is implant chips in the women's brains, why do they need those robotic bodies???
And how do the women cough up the cash???
**********SPOILER**************
I've seen that discussed in other places about this film. It's like the film makers put some stuff in that made it seem like the women were replaced with robotic copies and other things that made it seem they were just altered and could be returned to normal.
This is a comedy!?
Murdering your wife and replacing her with a robot duplicate is funny!?
It was written as a black comedy, although (IIRC) there was little about it that was funny. I've never read the novel, but in the much more serious original film, released in 1975, it was clear that the wives were replaced by subservient robots. Of course, William Goldman, who wrote the screenplay for the original, was a far better writer than Paul Nudnick...er...Rudnick.
I saw the original.
Now that was scary. That a whole town would willingly go along with murdering innocent women, just because their husbands wanted obedient slaves instead of loving wives.