The Stepford Wives

Directed by Frank Oz, The Stepford Wives follows Nicole Kidman’s Joanna Eberhart as she and her husband (Matthew Broderick’s Walter) move to a seemingly idyllic small town and eventually discover that something very strange is afoot. Filmmaker Oz, working from Paul Rudnick’s script, delivers a partially watchable yet mostly forgettable adaptation of Ira Levin’s vastly superior novel, as the movie, which somehow feels long even at 93 minutes, has been infused with a whole host of decidedly questionable elements that cumulatively prevent the viewer from working up much interest in or enthusiasm for the protagonists’ exploits – with the proliferation of eye-rollingly broad (and mostly unfunny) jokes and gags merely the tip of the iceberg in terms of the picture’s misguided, hit-and-miss qualities. And although the movie admittedly does contain its share of tolerable stretches, The Stepford Wives eventually progresses into a scattershot second half that grows less and less tolerable as time slowly progresses – with the arms-length vibe compounded by certain headscratching and nonsensical plot inconsistencies (eg are they controlled by nanobots or are they robots?) The final result is a predominantly misbegotten endeavor that contains few attributes worth wholeheartedly recommending, which is a shame, undoubtedly, given the massive potential afforded by the talent both in front of and behind the camera.

** out of ****