The Stepford Wives is a remake and while most remakes tend to be nothing more than an annoyance, this one is hilarious, entertaining, and brings its story to life in an awesome way.
Nicole Kidman plays Joanna Eberhart, a powerful, beautiful, successful business woman whose career takes a nosedive when the contestant of one her new pilots decides picking love over beautiful women while his wife chose a series of hot new men over him was reason enough to shoot a lot of people. Fired, shocked, and one crack away from a mental breakdown, her husband Walter (Matthew Broderick) decides that they should move away and start anew. The destination is Stepford, which seems eerily peaceful, serene, and perfect with elegantly dressed (and behaved) women, fun loving men who do nothing all day but golf, and overly large houses that put a new spin on McMansion. Claire Wellington (Glenn Close), the de facto woman in charge, introduces them to the new ways of Stepford and, with an eerie smile, welcomes them to their new home.
Not too long after this, Joanna meets Bobbie Markowitz (Bette Midler), a recovering alcoholic who has written at least one book that the film uses to measure her success, and Roger Bannister (Roger Bart) a rather flamboyant businessman who is also wildly successful. Much like Joanna, they are with less than stellar men, Dave Markowitz (Jon Lovitz) and Jerry Harmon (David Marshall Grant). The town of Stepford has a strange, dark secret of course, what with the women seemingly being perfect sex pots who dress well, act extremely demure, never talk back, and seem to dispense money from their mouths like an ATM.
The strange occurrences don’t go unnoticed by Joanna, Bobbie, and Roger and one by one their husbands become embroiled in the secrets of Stepford, possibly putting their lives in imminent danger.
Or are they?
As their husbands discover the secrets of Stepford, so too, do the wives as they investigate the town to try and figure out just what the hell is going on. Happening upon documents about the women, Joanna and the others are surprised to find out that these women aren’t just demure housewives, they’re powerful women with careers that truly make their husbands look lame by comparison.
The question remains as to why these women are acting so strangely subservient. Even when you know the secrets of Stepford, the movie is a grand experience filled with incredible actors, including Christopher Walken as Mike Wellington, the town’s mayor. It has great set pieces, an interesting score that sets the tone, and a superb storyline that is filled to the brim with laughs for the audience. So sit back, relax, and enjoy The Stepford Wives, because I know I’m going to.
Really, though, this scene was sadly hilarious.
Lloydd Marshall Books 