A mildly entertaining effort.
by Ruby Yang
Imagine a world where everyone is perfect. The women are beautiful and always fashionable. As for the men, they’re hardworking and dependable. Sound familiar? This little scenario is pretty much the foundation for most 1950’s TV shows. After all, did Lucy not always greet Ricky wearing her pretty polka dot dress? And even Mary Tyler’s Moore insistence to wear pants (in order to more accurately portray housewives) on the Dick Van Dyke Show still had Laura Petrie looking ever so glamorous while washing dishes. No, in the TV world, imperfections don’t exist. Instead, what was shown on TV was an idealistic view on how things should be.
- The Stepford Wives
- Directed by
Frank Oz - Cast
Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick - Release Date
11 June 2004 - Ruby’s Grade: C
This obsession with perfection is the premise for the The Stepford Wives. The film’s main character, Joanna Eberhart (Nicole Kidman), is the definition of a modern working woman: she is headstrong, independent, and most importantly, she is herself. But when fired from her job, Joanna does not know what to do. And so, in order to start things anew, Joanna and her husband Walter Kresby (Matthew Broderick) move to the quaint little fictional town of Stepford, Connecticut. From the start, something about the town seems amiss. The neighbors—who all dress as if it’s the 1950s—are too friendly, and the women are a bit too perfect.
Needless to say, the movie follows Joanna as she discovers the reason for Stepford’s picture perfect housewives. Plot wise, the film had potential. After all, it had been based off Ira Levin’s popular 1972 novel of the same name. And with an all-star cast that ranged from Nicole Kidman to Bette Midler, you’d think this movie would have been better.
But due to excessive deleted scenes and changes to the script in an attempt to please the studios, producers and the audience, the end result was a film filled with plot holes and a lack of character development. However, looking past its plot holes and one dimensional characters, the film was overall still enjoyable. The premise of the plot is enough to keep you mildly entertained for the duration of the film. So while the movie isn’t the greatest, and is average at best, it is overall still an enjoyable movie.
