The original film, and the great novel that preceded it are worthy of a better treatment than this lighthearted, anti-suspenseful, Hollywood variety show. What's more, the excellent veteran cast, the catchy soundtrack and the expensive production values could have made this into the socially serious, poignant and yet funny contemporary masterwork it should have been. Instead, we are left with a film whose campiest moments are clichés and whose point seems to be love conquers all - even the sexism, genderism and masculocentrism still rampant in American Society today! I never expect comedies to do a particularly good job with continuity and logic, but some of the continuity problems in this film are really pretty amazing. Plot twists are, after all, supposed to change the COURSE of the plot, not its basic premises. I'm dying to tell you about it, but I won't write a spoiler.

Here are the basics: Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick are a successful couple whose marriage has been suffering a bit because of the stress of their work-lives. Nicole, a TV executive famous for post-feminist male-bashing shows gets fired for no particular reason and they couple decides to move away to Stepford, an exclusive community populated by people who seem to have no particular troubles of any kind, or even jobs for that matter. Some of the first things Matthew Broderick realizes about Stepford is that all of the women are beautiful, and everybody is marvelously happy with a few possible exceptions - his own wife, Bette Midler and a gay liberal whose partner has been sucked into republicanism. Predictably, these three conspire to resist the happiness all around them and investigate the mystery of the Stepford men's club.

I've described the first quarter of the film. Although the central plot is interesting and strong, the lack of even a shred of seriousness detracts very heavily from it - even from a comedic point of view. If this film hadn't made me disinterested, the feminist in me would have simply been angry over the missed opportunity this film represents. Moreover, it is possible to see this film as a justification of the 'blame the victim' mentality so often prevalent in contemporary culture.

Most of the cast seems equally unengaged. They sometimes seem to be playing roles in different films - interacting with each other poorly and playing their roles with no particular goal in mind. I can only fault the director here. Broderick and Kidman are, as usual, very watchable, but even Nicole seems to be unsure what her character is supposed to be portraying at times. Bette Midler is fine, as are Walken and Glenn Close. Close was actually, IMO, the show stealer - making the film tolerable with her excruciatingly irritating and very dominant presence.

While not a complete travesty, I can not recommend The Stepford Wives.

Thirty years after the release of the critically acclaimed original here is the critically slammed remake.

Nicole Kidman is a hard as nails television executive who makes feminist television reality shows. She gets fired when a male victim of one of her shows goes postal.

Matthew Broderick plays her husband and is also a media executive. He has noticed the despite being a successful couple their marriage has suffered because of the work/life balance.

After her dismissal the couple move to the town of Stepford which seems like an idyllic retreat from the stresses and strains of the rat race in the city. The wives are the stay at home types and the husbands seems to be all rest and play. Not sure who does any work!

Broderick recognizes that Stepford is a happy community. Kidman along with frumpy author Bette Midler and a renowned gay designer finds there is something wrong with this white picket fenced Republican wet dream.

This version is a satire mixed with black humour and a surprisingly amiable film as long as you park your brain elsewhere. The film went through re-shoots with an ending that does not work. Then again a lot of the film does not work if you spend too long thinking about it. Its as a half good idea and an unfinished script which got the green light to go into production.

Are these women robots or was there some sort of brain re- programming? If they are robots the original women must be dead? We have a scene where one of the women dispenses bank notes for some reason. If its some sort of brain re-programming then the women could become normal at the end of the film. However the film wants it both ways which means the script was not ready, unsure or had to be re-shot later on.

Joanna Eberhart (Nicole Kidman) is an aggressive TV executive whose programming cause a contestant to snap and try to kill her. She's fired and her family moves to Stepford, Connecticut to escape from it all. Once there, she finds there is something wrong with all the women.

This starts with a horribly ugly introduction to Joanna. Then her husband played by Matthew Broderick look like a clueless idiot. Then he turns evil. All the guys are weaklings. All the women look like they're plastic. I guess it's a satire. But I don't think any of it is funny. These characters are as fake as they come.

Every character is just so broad. Every character is just so annoying. And then, there are the problems with the ending. Without spoilers, the ending is a mess that leaves a big question up in the air.