Review of Stepford Wives, The (2004)

Introduction

In the 1970s, British director Bryan Forbes adapted Ira Levin`s novel "The Stepford Wives" as a thriller starring Katherine Ross, Paula Prentiss and Nanette Newman. That movie and the novel that inspired it have entered popular culture to the extent that most people realise when a woman is described as a "Stepford Wife", there`s something too-good-to-be-true about her. The novel was a commentary on the 1970s culture-clash between conservative America and the rise of Womens` Lib, and an idealised society hearkening back to the 1950s and the depths of the Ike Age. Men were pipe-smoking authoritarians who aspired to the Hugh Hefner lifestyle and women were bubble-headed stay-at-homes whose entire existence was to service hubby`s needs.

Fast-forward to 2004, an age when conservatism is back in fashion in the land of the free and such libertarian ideals as social conscience, womens` rights and equality are losing favour. Producer Scott Rudin and writer Paul Rudnick saw the time was right to rediscover Stepford and turn the satirical wick up to maximum.

Nicole Kidman stars as Joanna Eberhart, a virago television executive who fills her schedules with war-of-the-sexes reality television to huge success. Then her career suffers a rationalisation which leaves her with a nervous collapse. Doting husband Walter Kresby (Matthew Broderick) quits his job with the marketing department of the company and they move to Connecticut to start a new life in Stepford.

On their arrival, Joanna is spooked by the perky, Barbie-doll nature of all the wives who live in Stepford. The most alarming is Stepford queen bee Claire Wellington (Glenn Close) who greets them at their impossibly large new house. While Walter is welcomed into the Men`s Association mansion, Joanna befriends the only other "normal" folk in the town - author Bobbie (Bette Midler) and gay architect Roger (Roger Bart).

Joanna, Bobbie and Roger attempt to fit in, but confronted by the manically house-proud Stepford Wives their suspicions that the town is not what it seems grow stronger. Meanwhile, Walter, Bobbie`s husband Dave (Jon Lovitz) and Roger`s partner Jerry (David Marshall Grant) are inducted into the Mens` Association by town father and Claire`s husband Mike Wellington (Christopher Walken).

Directed by Yoda himself, Frank Oz, the picture tones down the sinister element of the Bryan Forbes version and goes for Death-Becomes-Her style comedy. This not-edgy-enough style has disappointed a lot of critics and damaged the film`s box-office take but in my estimation the film benefits from avoiding the all too predictable dark-and-gritty style that itself is becoming a contemporary Hollywood cliché. Stepford is a bright, colourful, pleasant place whose dark secret is a half-arsed scheme to deliver suburban paradise. You couldn`t seriously make an idea like that dark and sinister, come on. Frank Oz doesn`t attempt to lurch too far into the darkness and the result is a pleasantly deranged comedy. One or two gags lurch into "Inspector Gadget" territory and jar, but the denouement is satisfactory with one very nice plot twist.

Video

Picture-perfect, the movie is presented in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen. Colours are bright, reflecting the artificiality of Stepford, and the photography of rural Connecticut is lush. Set design is top notch, especially the complex of sets that are the Mens` Association - reminiscent of the Drones Club in the Wodehouse books.

Audio

The movie comes with an all-enveloping and lively Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Of special mention is David Arnold`s magnificently Danny Elfmaniacal score.

Features

There is an audio commentary by director Frank Oz, but more illuminating are the featurettes. Best of these is the standard making-of piece: A Perfect World: The Making of The Stepford Wives. It is accompanied by four shorter featurettes - Stepford: A Definition, which explores the novel and original movie`s entry into popular culture; Stepford: The Architects, which looks at the design of the picture; The Stepford Wives, which looks at the female characters in the film and The Stepford Husbands which does the same for the spouses.

The deleted and extended scenes are mostly material excised from the picture after an unsuccessful test screening. Virtually all of the material taken out are further "Inspector Gadget" type gags to do with the Stepfordisation process (inferring it to be much more invasive than ultimately indicated). The cuts have the unfortunate effect of kicking the continuity out from under a couple of similar jokes that remained in the film.

Glenn Close has the most appearances in the short Blooper/ Gag Reel, and the extras are rounded off by the original Teaser and Theatrical Trailers. The movie and most extras are fully subtitled.

Conclusion

A gloriously batty new adaptation of a seminal novel. Frank Oz`s version of The Stepford Wives dispenses with the sinister overtones of the previous adaptation to relate what is basically a silly idea taken to its illogical conclusion. A magnificent performance from Glenn Close as uberhausfrau Claire just keeps you off-balance enough. I thoroughly enjoyed this picture, and think it deserves better consideration than other commentators have given it.