Stepford Wives

Release Date: June 11, 2004

Betty Wilkins?  Please.  If you're gonna binge, you'd better purge.

On the Big Board
Position Staff In Brief
50/92 David Mumpower After Bowfinger and The Score, Frank Oz was overdue for a bad movie.
53/55 Reagen Sulewski I don't know about you, but I was rooting for the robots.
101/133 Dan Krovich Jumbled, didn't quite come together
110/126 Kim Hollis A mess of a film with absolutely no comprehension of the concept behind the Ira Levin book and the original movies.

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Pop quiz, men and sexually progressive women! Who would you come home to at night: Glenn Close or Nicole Kidman? Faith Hill or Bette Midler? Anyone who has ever seen Fatal attraction or Bette Midler knows the easy answers here. What we have, then, is a movie for you.

Stepford wives is a re-make of the Stepford films a generation ago that told the story of a town where transgressers are sent away for "re-education" of a sort. Some cosmetic surgery seems to be involved as well. The purpose of the changes is to turn your deeply flawed spouse into the mate of your dreams.

I know that many of you are thinking that Stepford sounds wonderful and you would like to move there. Before you hit Google and Mapquest, though, keep in mind that such thoughts are only marginally above actual cuckolding and/or divorce. In short, I am telling the Republican National Party on you, Cheater.

In the fantasy realm of Stepford, though, such behavior is not considered wrong. Instead, the progressive town council considers the law to be unclear with regards to such tricky subject matter as brainwashing and virtual-zombification of significant others. And who are we to judge them for it?

We all probably agree on the fact that it would suck to live there, especially if you had recently moved there from a less *ahem* structured part of the world. Enter Joanna, an impossibly pretty Nicole Kidman-type. She and her dorky husband (think: an emasculated Mr. Sarah Jessica Parker-type rather than an adult Ferris Beuller) have just moved their family to Stepford.

While there, they begin to notice some strange behavior from the other wives. Joanna's one normal new friend, Bobbie (Wind Beneath My Midler), suggests that they investigate the situation. When they do, they are shocked to discover a society of robotic clone women eerily similar to the fembots from Austin Powers. Since Kidman clearly has it stipulated in her contract that she must be the avatar of femininity in any of her movies, this situation simply will not stand. Joanna and Bobbie set out to return the town to normalcy before they get turned into sexbots themselves.

Stepford Wives is at heart a movie about an entire society of soccer moms and their SUV-driving spouses. If ever there were a construct of class hierarchy that deserved a solid throttling, it would be this group. That makes Stepford Wives must-see entertainment.

PS: I sincerely apologize for putting the image of a Bette Midler sexbot in your heads. (David Mumpower/BOP)




Vital statistics for Stepford Wives
Main Cast Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick
Supporting Cast Bette Midler, Glenn Close, Christopher Walken, Faith Hill, Mike White, Roger Bart, Jon Lovitz, Matt Malloy, Lorri Bagley, Colleen Dunn
Director Frank Oz
Screenwriter Paul Rudnick
Distributor Paramount
Trailer Click Here for Trailer
Official Site http://www.stepfordwivesmovie.com/
Rating PG-13
Running Time 90 minutes
Screen Count 3,057
Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture



Comparison films for Stepford Wives
Title
Date
Opening
Adjusted Opening
Screens
PSA
Adj PSA
Total BO
Adjusted Total
Mult
Score, The 7/13/0119.02 20.30 2129 8933.00 9170.2 71.07 75.85 3.74
Bowfinger 8/13/9918.06 21.52 2706 6674.00 7619.9 66.37 79.09 3.67
In and Out 9/19/9715.02 19.73 1992 7540.00 9527.7 63.84 83.86 4.25
Moulin Rouge 6/1/0113.72 14.64 2279 6019.00 6178.8 57.22 61.07 4.12
Practical Magic 10/16/9813.10 16.84 2652 4940.00 6109.2 46.81 60.18 3.57
What about Bob? 5/17/919.22 13.20 1463 6302.00 8682.1 63.55 91.02 6.89
To Die For 10/6/956.23 8.63 928 6713.00 8950.7 21.10 29.24 3.27
S1m0ne (Simone) 8/23/023.81 3.96 1920 1986.00 1986.0 9.68 10.06 2.54


     


 
 

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