THE STEPFORD WIVES
by Jane Louise Boursaw
Rated PG-13 (for
sexual content, thematic material and language). 98 Minutes. Ok for kids
over 13. Too provocative for the younger crowd, and they wouldn’t
understand the battle-of-the-sexes issues anyway.
Nicole Kidman stars
as Joanne Eberhart, a high-powered TV exec who’s fired after one of her
reality-show losers goes on a shooting spree at a corporate meeting. Her
husband, Walter (Matthew Broderick) resigns from the same network (where
he was her underling), and they move with their two children to the
gated community of Stepford, Connecticut.
But this isn’t your
typical suburb. The women are all sexy, Better-Crocker clones, and the
men hang out at the Stepford Men’s Association, slugging down brandy and
playing juvenile games. Glenn Close stars as Claire Wellington, who’s
disturbingly cheery (“flight-attendant friendly,” says Joanne). She’s
also the town greeter and cheerleader, leading the other Barbies in
exercise sessions that mimic domestic chores (“Let’s all be washing
machines!” she chirps). The creepy Christopher Walken plays Claire’s
husband. He appears to be in charge of things.
The
Eberharts start to suspect something’s amiss when one of the women
short-circuits at a community square dance, and sparks fly out of her
head. So Joanne teams up with other real-people residents Bobbie
Markowitz (Bette Midler) and the gay Roger Bannister (Roger Bart) to
figure out what the heck is going on.
WHAT I LIKED:
This is more comedy than thriller (which is ok in my book), as opposed
to the original 1975 version, which skewed toward horror. The trio of
Kidman, Midler and Bart are fun, Sherlock-Holmes wannabees, with all
three providing comic relief and playing off each other’s differences.
Midler’s rotund sassiness is the perfect opposite to Kidman’s tall,
size-one coolness (could she get any thinner?).
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: I couldn’t help thinking that Matthew
Broderick should have been the robot in this movie. His character seems
one-dimensional, but then, this film doesn’t pretend to be anything more
than a comic-book version of the original novel written by Ira Levin.
Purists might not like this re-telling of the book – a social satire
about men turning their women into battery-operated wives who did what
they were told and never complained.
THE WRAP-UP: A funny, well-written film that manages to capture the modern-day
struggles of marriage and women trying to do it all. As Kidman’s
character says, “It’s not about perfection. Perfect doesn’t work!” Any
woman in this day and age can identify with that.
SCORE:
3 out of 4
Reels.
JANE'S REEL
RATING SYSTEM:
One Reel – Pathetic.
Even The Force can’t save it.
Two Reels –
Tolerable. Coulda been a contender.
Three Reels –
Pleasant. Something to talk about.
Four Reels – Wow!
The stuff dreams are made of.
E-chat with me at
jane@reellifewithjane.com --
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