 'The Stepford Wives'
(Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Roger Bart, Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, Glenn Close, Faith Hill / PG-13 / 96 mins / Paramount Pictures)
Overview: In this remake of the 1975 thriller, Joanna (Nicole Kidman) and her husband (Matthew Broderick) move into the suburban community of Stepford, where she soon notices that the local housewives seem oddly bland and too perfect. After some investigation with her new friend, Bobbie (Bette Midler), she uncovers the town's secret: The men of Stepford have been replacing their wives with robotic look-alikes who do their every bidding.
Verdict: To be honest, 'The Stepford Wives' does manage to fire off a handful of decent jokes and a few sneaky insights before losing its nerve and collapsing into incoherence. From the start something is missing in this remake and while its oddly matched parts never congeal into a fully formed creation, it's fairly diverting escapism. In all fairness though, Rudnick's screenplay IS filled with smart dialogue and funny pop-culture references, including some well-observed parodies of reality TV programming! And so, 'The Stepford Wives' is an inoffensive, often amusing comedy — despite flying rather spectacularly off the rails in a weak, logic-less ending that was obviously re-shot and tacked on!!
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