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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Worthless, Insipid, Vacuous, Waste of Time., July 5, 2005
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.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
D- remake of an A+ story..., December 12, 2004
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...
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Red Haired Stepford-Child, November 15, 2004
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.
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