Elice Giorgione
A&E Assistant
The now infamous term “Stepford Wife” was coined back in the mid-1970s when the popular novel by Ira Levin was turned into a film for the first time.
The original “The Stepford Wives” was dark, cynical and suspenseful, telling the story of a woman who moves to the suburbs with her husband only to discover the idyllic town of Stepford has a sinister underbelly.
Despite its flawless appearance to the outside world, Stepford hides a horrific secret behind the perfectly manicured lawns, perfectly coifed housewives and perfectly charming homes. At the time of its release, the original film addressed an issue that many men were struggling with – the idea of women reaching equal status within the workplace and the home.
Thirty years later, a new, updated, more socially applicable version of “The Stepford Wives” was born out of director Frank Oz’s imagination. It’s a comedic adaptation, shedding the foreboding, disturbing undertones of the original.
The remake assumes the audience already knows the big secret behind Stepford’s perfect wives. The mystery isn’t drawn out. Rather, it’s made quite apparent very early on in the film when one female character, Sarah Sunderson (Faith Hill) spins out of control at a square dance and begins to malfunction and spark from her ears. It becomes clear at this point that the beautiful women of Stepford are more robotic than human.
From the very first scene, writer Paul Rudnick plays upon both stereotypes and pop culture, from ridiculing our fascination with reality television to exaggerating the notion of a clichéd gay male in today’s society.
The main character, Joanna Eberhardt (Nicole Kidman), is a successful yet high-strung network executive who suffers a nervous breakdown when an attempt is made on her life and she is fired. In order to help her recuperate, her husband Walter (Matthew Broderick) moves the whole family to the suburbs of Connecticut, to the flawless town of Stepford.
The workaholic, “I-only-ever-wear-black” Joanna feels horribly out of place surrounded by a town full of pink-clad, apron-wearing, craft-loving, housework-obsessed women, led by the charming and sickeningly sweet Claire Wellington (Glenn Close). So it is a great relief when she meets two kindred spirits at Stepford’s annual Fourth of July picnic – gay architect Roger Bannister (Roger Bart) and feminist author Bobbi Markowitz (Bette Midler).
They are united by their common disgust for the cupcake-baking women of Stepford, and in the process of making fun of their neighbors and sharing their own preferred choice of antidepressant, the threesome become close very quickly.
Although Joanna dabbles with the idea of trying to adapt to this new lifestyle to please Walter, the effort doesn’t last very long, and together the three become quite suspicious of this far too perfect community. They begin to snoop and try to expose Stepford’s true nature, beginning in the most shady place in town – the men’s club, where eventually the truth is revealed in a very humorous, campy, tell-all scene.
The supporting characters truly provide the most comic relief in the film and infuse humor into every scene. The character of Mike Wellington (Christopher Walken) is sadly underused, but gives the only really creepy performance.
Although lacking in the editing department, and despite some continuity and logistic problems and an obviously last-minute, re-shot, tacked-on ending, overall, “The Stepford Wives” is good, mindless entertainment that falls short of complete satire, but is amusing and worth seeing nonetheless.
11-04-2004
