The Stepford Wives (2004) * * *

Directed by:  Frank Oz

Starring:  Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Glenn Close, Christopher Walken, Bette Midler, Jon Lovitz, Faith Hill, Roger Bart

The Stepford Wives chooses to go for satire and laughs, a wise move.    This is a silly plot, but we're hooked because the movie doesn't drown us in seriousness or bang us over the head with
gender politics.   The 1975 version based on the Ira Levin novel was a horror film in which
a town's women are transformed into obedient robots who act as servants for their husbands.
The same thing here, but this Stepford Wives has more fun with the possibilities, including
one wife who can be used as an ATM and others controlled by golden remote control
devices which include reverse and fast forward.

To the men of Stepford, these women are perfect.   They all look like blonde swimsuit models, and don't argue, talk back, or in any way threaten their fragile manhood.    What level of insecurity
must one have to agree to turn his wife into a robot?    Wouldn't it get boring after a while?
Not to these men, led by Mike (Walken) who runs the Stepford Men's Club where the members
smoke stogies, play golf, and brag about how their women keep their homes spotless.
Joanna (Kidman) and Walter (Broderick) are new to Stepford, moving there after Joanna is
fired from running a TV network and the meeker Walter, who worked under her as a token
vice-president, resigns in protest.    Joanna had a nervous breakdown following her firing, so
her claims of seeing one woman "sparking" could be dismissed as part of her mental
fragility. 

The homes of Stepford are immaculate mansions, the landscaping perfectly manicured, and the women behave and dress as if they time traveled from the 1950's.    The town's most prominent woman, Claire Wellington (Close) encourages this behavior and leads exercise classes with the
woman wearing dresses and heels.   Joanna finds kindred spirits in Bobbie (Midler), a famed writer
whose house is still a mess (thank goodness) and Roger (Bart), a flamboyant gay man unimpressed with the town's fashion sense.    But soon, and probably inevitably, Bobbie and Roger are
morphed into robots themselves, leaving Joanna as the lone holdout.

Kidman is a sympathetic heroine, keen to the idea that her husband feels overshadowed by her.
Like the main character in Levin's Rosemary's Baby, she is stuck in the unenviable position of being the only person who knows the truth and can't find anyone to believe her.    Broderick gives us a loyal, sympathetic Walter whose meekness makes him easy pickings for Mike's suggestions.    Mike is a tailor-made Walken role, while Close is still bursting with secrets even though the biggest one
is right out in front.

Written by Paul Rudnick and efficiently directed by Frank Oz, who has developed quite a strong satire resume, The Stepford Wives is briskly paced and trims the fat.    Not that there is much
on these Stepford women.