You won't be disappointed!

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Have you seen it? No? There is likely a very good reason for that...it stinks.Like nearly ALL the endless remakes and reboots that have been plaguing movie goers for the past decade or so....all this is, is a heartless version of the original.It has no heart.It has no soul.It is a retelling of a film that we all love and cherish...and it adds nothing to the story. It improves nothing but the special effects--which held up very well over time--and in some cases belittles the fans of the original...particularly in the fact that they remade the movie at all, without adding anything clever to it.Like so many other remakes it is a hallow shell of the original.

Sometimes, while watching a film that has great potential, it is difficult to understand or believe some of the inexplicable choices that film-makers decide upon. In "The Stepford Wives", a great kernel of a story is turned into almost a complete and utter farce that could have been oh so much better.For a basic plot summary, "Stepford Wives" tells the story of Joanna Eberhart (Nicole Kidman), an extremely driven career women who suffers a nervous breakdown. Husband Walter (Matthew Broderick) decides to move her and the family to the gated community of Stepford, managed by Mike Wellington (Christopher Walken). In Stepford, however, Joanna and newfound friend Bobbie (Bette Midler) try to unravel the mystery behind the "always-smiling, just-a-little-too-perfect" Stepford wives and their odd husbands.I would give a spoiler alert here (and it still stands if you know absolute nothing about this movie), but the trailers and film itself do a pretty good job ruining that department. To be blunt, it is so obvious that the Stepford wives are robots (based on a few incredibly stupid scenes and some really bad special effects) that it pretty much kills the ending. It's almost like director Frank Oz was trying to mock the original film instead of crafting the taut masterpiece that could have been.And that truly is what is so sad about "The Stepford Wives". The social concepts behind the film are very, very interesting for both men and women to think about, but this effort makes a mockery for them. It plays serious issues for sight gags and farcical humor. Heck, a movie like this would have worked better even as horror or suspense, but the comedy sinks it like an anchor.Basically, the only reason I can give the movie even two stars is because that "kernel of story" is interesting. My exact rating would be about 1.5 stars, because I can't remember the last time I saw a movie that "screwed it up" this bad in the story-interpretation department.

This movie is just an excuse for a bunch of jokes about sexism, which is exactly what we wanted. The jokes are good and the humor is never scatological. The characters are fairly well drawn though hardly complex. On the whole it is above average for a genre, the cutesy remake, which tends to be horrible. If you have any ideas about how you would do a new Stepford Wives you will probably be disappointed and annoyed. There is relatively little social commentary or suspense, in fact the only suspenseful scene is just funny. The hows and whats of what the ladies are isn't really addressed much, in part because it would be more disturbing than this movie wants to be. On the other hand, it never breaks character, so you can just cruise comfortably to the end, laughing every minute or so.As a professional horticulturist, I must mention the plantings and flower arrangements. The orchids were just becoming available at grocery stores and the gladiolus in the "plantings" must have been hand placed in some cases, cause they don't grow in graceful sprays. Someone did an awesome job.

The Stepford Wives (2004): Dir: Frank Oz / Cast: Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken, Glenn Close: Remake of the 1975 thriller only this time director Frank Oz chose to play this as a dark comedy. It is a film about image and the idea that these wives are so radiant. Nicole Kidman stars as a successful T.V. producer who is fired when one of her participants goes on a killing rampage. Her husband decides to move them to Stepford where "there is no crime, poverty or pushing." It is a place lined with beautiful mansions and women who are just too artificial. Another achievement by Oz who also made Bowfinger and What About Bob? Kidman is superb as a woman surviving a nervous breakdown and learning that true love is never artificial. Matthew Broderick is well cast as her husband who is adopted into the Stepford Men's Club. Bette Midler steals scenes as a cynical novelist. Christopher Walken plays the head citizen who shelters a secret that won't be revealed here. Glenn Close plays the female who seems to second the Walken character and does so with a lot of spirit. Beautiful sets and art direction highlight despite a plot concept that isn't probable due to operation and effect. The film exposes consumerism and the reality that everybody has flaws and defects. It also exposes bad traditions and the reality that no place on earth is this pleasant. Score: 9 / 10