Product Details

• Actors: Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, Glenn Close, Christopher Walken
• Directors: Frank Oz
• Writers: Ira Levin, Paul Rudnick
• Producers: Donald De Line, Edgar J. Scherick, Gabriel Grunfeld, Keri Selig, Leslie J. Converse
• Format: PAL
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (196 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0006GCZZ6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #512,400 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Stepford Wives" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

An all-star cast remakes the 1975 socio-political horror flick, The Stepford Wives. After being fired as president of a television network, Joanna (Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge) has a nervous breakdown, prompting her husband Walter (Matthew Broderick, Election) to take her to a simple Connecticut town called Stepford to recuperate. But Stepford is a little strange: The schlubby husbands congregate at a closed-doors men's club, while the wives--all in bright summer frocks and air-brushed smiles--exercise to keep their hourglass figures and cook endless pastries. Joanna, along with new arrivals Bobbie (Bette Midler, Beaches) and Roger (the very funny Roger Bart), soon discover that the mastermind of Stepford (Christopher Walken, Communion) has used cybernetics to "perfect" womankind. The Stepford Wives has some satirical zingers (from sneaky screenwriter Paul Rudnick, Addams Family Values), but the basic idea has lost a lot of gas since 1975. Also featuring Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction). --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

This updated version of the Ira Levin novel, first adapted for the movies (drearily) in 1975, is bright and funny for about an hour. A bunch of drippily unattractive and frightened husbands, retreating to the wealthy, bland Connecticut town of Stepford, turn their high-powered wives into perfect slave robots. The script, by Paul Rudnick, and the set design, by Jackson De Govia, transform Levin's thriller material into spoof. The dresses of the robot wives are a riot of patterned gingham, the wives' exercises, as choreographed by Patricia Birch, imitate the gently spinning movements of washing machines, and the sparkling mansions are high-windowed and strewn with flowers. In essence, the movie represents Rudnick's riff on the square world, which he takes to be everywhere outside of New York. The heroines include two yet to be robotized women-Bette Midler, slamming into scenes like a runaway truck, and Nicole Kidman, who has energy and spark. But Matthew Broderick, as her husband, a Caspar Milquetoast with a flap of hair falling over his forehead, never seems to get into the movie at all, and, somewhere in the middle, the rusty gothic-horror mechanics underneath the comedy bring everything to a grinding halt. With Glenn Close and Christopher Walken, giving their all as the smoothly malicious leaders of Stepford. Directed, shakily, by Frank Oz. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worthless, Insipid, Vacuous, Waste of Time., July 5, 2005

By 

Sushi Girl -Laura (Gainesville, Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Stepford Wives (Special Collector's Edition) (DVD)

Thank God I got this from the library, Free of charge, didnt buy or rent or go to see this in a theatre. I loved the original Stepford wives, it was funny and creepy and mirrored that 70's fear of women becoming "robot" housewives instead of being liberated. This version made no sense, they werent supposed to be robots, or were they? they had chips implanted into thier own bodies? which one was it? They had boobs that inflated, money come out of thier mouths, they didnt burn. BUT at the end it was implied that it was just some microchips in the brain that made them act differently. Were there two scripts that just got combined and no one checked the continuity? Nicole Kidman, poorly cast, Matthew Broderick, poorly cast, well, the whole movie was poorly cast. It wasnt funny AT ALL. The "remote controls" for the women were a bit like the "toys" I have seen in X-rated stores. Even the 1987 Made for TV movie "the stepford children" was better written AND acted than this flop.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars D- remake of an A+ story..., December 12, 2004

By 

WeezyBoPeep (RUSTIC NORTHERN MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stepford Wives (Special Collector's Edition) (DVD)

This is the first movie review I have ever done on here...im normally a music reviewer on here. But this time I just can't keep quiet. I have read 5 Ira Levin books, and he is one of my favorite writers. So when I discovered that THE STEPFORD WIVES was made into a movie, I had to go rent it. I LOVED IT, the simplicity of the filming and the acting just captured the essence of Levin's story. Just like Rosemary's Baby. I was equally excited when I discovered that it was being remade again with the modern cast...after all, I'm a young guy and I thought, cool, now people will be able to see this great flick that I have loved for years.

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT. The remake sucks. It has the main character, Joanna, as this feminist ultra career oriented freak and it really fails to capture the beauty of the original with Katherine Ross, and without a doubt, does not deserve to have Ira Levin's name anywhere in the credits...its a SHAM. Don't buy it. They ruined this great tale!!! Get the original, or ROSEMARY'S BABY which is available for a lot less on here...

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Red Haired Stepford-Child, November 15, 2004

By 

Dan Mcgarry (Ft Huachuca, az USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Stepford Wives (Full Screen Collector's Edition) (DVD)

First, I'm not in the habit of panning films. My worst criticism has always been "It's worth seeing, but I wouldn't buy it." This remake of the Stepford Wives has set a new standard. Don't even rent it.
I do not know what happened - whether they ran out of money for SFX or the stars demanded more of the budget than they'd counted on, but whatever it was, it cost the movie.
Basically, there are 2 ways to view this story Scary or Funny. They failed at both. The book and original movie were spooky and disturbing. Frank Oz set out to make the remake a comedy, but failed. There is no continuity or consistency. Are the Wives Robots, or brainwashed women? Either could be true. One of the deleted scenes shows Bette Midler turn into Inspector Gadget (interesting, since Mathew Broderick is in the film, too) sprouting a variety of kitchen utensils from her fingers, and finally dropping a lawn mower from her butt, which she then rides out into the yard to cut the grass. It was both disturbing and funny, and there was no doubt that she was a robot. So they cut the scene. I think they suddenly realized halfway through the production that they wanted a happy ending, and that wasn't possible if the human wives had been killed and replaced with automatons. So they cut the scenes where their mechanical nature showed, but not all of them - there's still enough enough glimpses of Faith Hill giving off sparks, and serving as an ATM machine. The possibilities of the robots had great comic potential, which was abandoned. Another cut scene had the husbands urging Mathew Broderick to get the cigarette lighter option - "You'll be glad you did..."
Bottom Line: The Remake of "The Stepford Wives" isn't funny, and it isn't scary, it's just sad.