The Stepford Wives (2004) - 2 stars out of 10

The Stepford Wives (2004) - 2 stars out of 10

Three of the leads and the director of “The Stepford Wives” all say that this movie was a mistake.  That sets an accurate expectation of what you will see on the screen.  While the story of “The Stepford Wives” is unique, this confused remake suffers from a major identity crisis.  It is supposed to be a black comedy but there is not much humor or irony, and the robot-like acting of these Leave-It-to-Beaver housewives just comes off as poor acting.  It seems that this remake was doomed to fail throughout its entire production.  An ensemble cast is often a good thing but, when several of these big-name personalities clash with the director, it becomes a disaster.  The acting of Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Glenn Close, and Faith Hill comes off as lazy and apathetic.  This was Faith Hill’s first and last appearance on the silver screen which explains why she was so awful, but the others are just a reflection of their inability to get along with director Frank Oz.  Matthew Broderick was miscast - note that John Cusack was originally selected for this role and how much better his acting style would have matched the character.  In fact, the only two actors that I enjoyed were Christopher Walken and Jon Lovitz, and that’s only because they were completely typecast and just had to play themselves!  Everything about this film is wrong, from Kidman’s terrible reality tv show concept (one of the least funny parts of this black comedy) to Faith Hill’s unseen bedroom scene.  “The Stepford Wives” was better off as a thriller and never needed to be remade.