The first feature film based on Ira
Levin’s novel, The Stepford Wives, a
combination of horror and science fiction with roots reaching all the way back
to Frankenstein, appeared in1975 and,
though it barely retained the spirit of the original, proved influential in
some unforeseen ways. The movie spawned three sequels, all of them inadequate
made-for-television flicks, but more important, it added a memorable phrase to
the vernacular.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
adjective Stepford, applied to a variety of people or even objects, suggests
blandness, docility, saccharine sweetness, and conformity to a safe and
inoffensive mediocrity. Laura Bush, for example, seems the perfect Stepford
First Lady, just the sort of wife some committee of copywriters and political
hacks would invent for their alleged president.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
new remake deletes the horror elements of the first movie, substituting instead
an extremely broad comic satire of a rather old-fashioned notion of
contemporary suburbia. Although consistent in its vision of the mindless
conformity of much of American bourgeois culture, the picture also betrays a
thoroughly immature and generally specious conception of its own perfectly
acceptable premises. In its heavy-handed approach to its material, the script
avoids dealing with its own assumptions, trading logic for laughs, coy innuendo
for intelligence.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Despite
its date and its constant allusions to the contemporary war between the sexes, The Stepford Wives grows directly out of
the science fiction literature and cinema of 1950s, which frequently examined
problems of identity and American male inadequacy. Works like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Puppet Masters dramatized the first
concern and The Incredible Shrinking Man and Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman the
second. Village of the Damned cleverly and efficiently combined the two. The present film attempts to exploit
some of the backlash against feminism by establishing a society in which a
group of second-rate men conspire to dominate their ambitious, successful,
powerful spouses.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
protagonist, Joanna Eberhardt (Nicole Kidman), the head of a television
network, suffers a major breakdown when she loses her job over the tragic
failure of one of her man-hating “reality” shows. After drastic treatment, she
and her husband (Matthew Broderick) leave New York and relocate to the
affluent, isolated town of Stepford, Connecticut, a tranquil place with the
soothing pastel colors of a television commercial, a collection of magnificent
mansions, a fleet of SUVs, and a population of contented suburbanites.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
women, all stunning, dress up in seductive outfits, happily do all the domestic
chores, gladly caddy for their husbands on the golf course, take their
conversational material from the sort of magazines that inform their readers of
ten ways to use pine cones at Christmas time, and smile brainlessly all the
time.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Resisting
the temptations of the Simply Stepford Day Spa, run by Claire Wellington (Glenn
Close), Kidman smells something terrifically rotten in the state of Stepford.
With the help of the only other oddballs in the village — Bette Midler as a
sloppy, cynical, aggressively Jewish writer and Roger Bart as the flamboyant
half of a homosexual couple — she investigates the curious doings at the
Stepford Men’s Club, where her husband and his pals hang out.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย As
any viewer even vaguely familiar with the history of the concept would expect,
the trio discovers that the leader of the Club, Claire’s husband Mike
(Christopher Walken), supervises a complete transformation, through computer
wizardry, plastics, and nanotechnology, of the women of the town into the
robotic Stepford Wives.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย After
that discovery the script’s logic goes completely haywire, very like one of the
town’s smiling females, and simply runs away from its equivocations about
whether Walken and his colleagues alter the behaviors of the women or actually
replace them with robots. It settles for laying on the political and social
satire with a trowel, squeezing laughs from the simple fact of suburbia itself,
from its broad presentation of such obvious targets as the consumer society,
materialism, the self righteous hypocrisy of the Republican view of life.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Those
subjects certainly deserve all the attacks the filmmakers can muster, but they
rely far too heavily on the broad and easy approach, avoiding subtlety and
blunting their edge with silly and exaggerated comedy.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
acting consists almost entirely of shtick, with the main characters delivering
their speeches like punch lines, and overstating one characterizing trait:
Midler constantly emphasizes her Jewishness, Roger Bart behaves like a parody
of a homosexual, and Glenn Close smiles so hard her face almost cracks.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Christopher
Walken’s eccentric presence at least lends a bit of quirkiness and weirdness to
the excessiveness of most of the performers. As for Nicole Kidman, she seems
even less interesting than when she put on a putty nose and a glum face and
impersonated Virginia Woolf, who was decidedly not a Stepford Wife.
The Stepford Wives (PG-13), starring
Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken, Roger Bart,
Faith Hill, Glenn Close, Jon Lovitz, David Marshall Grant, Lorri Bagley; based
on the novel by Ira Levin; screenplay by Paul Rudnick; directed by Frank Oz.
Cinemark Tinseltown; Pittsford Plaza Cinema; Regal Culver Ridge; Regal Eastview;
Regal Greece Ridge; Regal Henrietta.
This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2004.
