| The Stepford Wives 2004 8/10 Directed by Frank Oz Starring: Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, Bette Midler Plot Crunch: After Joanna (Kidman) is fired from her job, her and her family pack up and move to the quiet town of Stepford. A town where there is no work, all play and the women are all freaky dumbwaiters to the cocky, loser males. Joanna notices the queer goings on in Stepford, but is she the only one? Critique: Lets face it, the critics (young and old) lambasted the Stepford Wives, and I think Im the only one to give it as a high a mark as I have. I don't know, but I thought the Stepford Wives perfectly blended comedy, drama, horror, sci-fi and action together. It was the main gripe of most critics that it didn't handle any of these things very well, on the contrary, as I stated I thought that it handled them all very well. Another thing the film was able to juggle exceptionally well was the all star ensemble cast of everyone from recent star Kidman, to stage veteran Glenn Close, to comic actor Matthew Broderick. It takes talent, let's face it to handle an ensemble of this type of magnitude (with stars Christopher Walken, Bette Middler and Faith Hill also on the cast), and I haven't seen one handled so well since, probably, Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. Another thing I liked about the Stepford Wives was it didn't leave any loose threads, and was able to give a couple pf creepy scenes. Particularily one featured in the trailers, where uber slob Bette Midler is turned into, well a Stepford Wife and starts offering Kidman coffee. I don't know why, but the scene waqs very effective, because it showed some foreboding that no one was safe in Stepford, and Kidman well portrayed a person dreading sundown, the time that she may become a Stepford Wife. However, Stepford was not all a bed of roses, two things I found quite irritating, and that was kids (bah, hate kids). The children, however essential were annoying. More Kidman/Broderick's kids then the others. The score also pissed me off quite a bit at times, as it was very generic and quite untimely put with the scenes. Other than that, problem free. Another critical flop that I really enjoyed. It was quite creepy, and very funny. Excellently played out. |