The Stepford Wives (2004)

What does it take to become a Stepford wife, a woman perfect beyond belief? Ask the Stepford husbands, who've created this high-tech terrifying little town, in a very modern comedy-thriller.

Director:

Frank Oz

Writers:

Ira Levin (book), Paul Rudnick (screenplay)

Stars:

Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nicole Kidman	...	Joanna Eberhart
Matthew Broderick	...	Walter Kresby
Bette Midler	...	Bobbie Markowitz
Glenn Close	...	Claire Wellington
Christopher Walken	...	Mike Wellington
Roger Bart	...	Roger Bannister
David Marshall Grant	...	Jerry Harmon
Jon Lovitz	...	Dave Markowitz
Dylan Hartigan	...	Pete Kresby
Fallon Brooking	...	Kimberly Kresby
Faith Hill	...	Sarah Sunderson
Matt Malloy	...	Herb Sunderson
Kate Shindle	...	Beth Peters
Tom Riis Farrell	...	Stan Peters
Lorri Bagley	...	Charmaine Van Sant

Storyline

Joanna Eberhart, a wildly succesful president of a TV Network, after a series of shocking events suffers a nervous breakdown and is moved by her milquetoast of a husband, Walter, from Manhattan to the chic, upper-class and very modern planned community of Stepford, Connecticut. Once there, she makes good friends with the ascerbic Bobbie Markowitz, a jewish writer who's also a recovering alcoholic. Together they find out, much to their growing stupor and-then horror, that all the housewives in town are strangely blissful, and somehow... doomed. What is going on behind the closed doors of the Stepford Men's Association and the Stepford Day Spa? Why is everything perfect here? Will it be too late for Joanna and Bobbie when they finally find out?

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Plot Keywords:

writer | community | connecticut | television | fired from the job | 

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Taglines:

Make one.

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Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, thematic material and language

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount Pictures UIP [br]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 June 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Las mujeres perfectas

Filming Locations:

Bedminster, New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$134,506 (South Africa) (29 October 2004)

Gross:

$268,694 (South Africa) (12 November 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, Scott Rudin Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Siblings John Cusack and Joan Cusack were originally cast as Walter Eberhart and Bobbie Markowe respectively, but had to drop out of the film for family reasons.

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Goofs

When Claire drives Joanna through Stepford, her seat belt disappears and reappears between shots.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Helen Devlin: Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to introduce a legend in our industry. She's the most successful president in the history of our network and for the past five years has kept us at the very top of the ratings.

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Crazy Credits

In the credits, Corning is credited with "cutlured stone" rather than "cultured stone".

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Connections

Referenced in The Benchwarmers (2006)

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Soundtracks

"The Star Spangled Banner"
(1814)
Music by John Stafford Smith (as J.S. Smith) from "To Anacreon in Heaven" (1765?)
Lyrics by Francis Scott Key (as F.S. Key)
Arranged by Frank Asper
Performed by Mormon Tabernacle Choir (as The Mormon Tabernacle Choir)
Courtesy of Columbia Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Alpha Bits

Ultra modern reworking of Ira Levin's bestseller from the 1970s (and the 1975 film counterpart starring Katharine Ross) about Connecticut suburb filled with perky, beautiful housewives and their boorish, piggy husbands. Nicole Kidman is very good as the newcomer in town whose husband (a rather stolid Matthew Broderick) immediately joins the Men's Association. Abandoning the sly dark humor of the original movie, this rather bombastic--and brief--92 minute version shows heavy signs of post-production tinkering. There are all sorts of things wrong with this movie, starting with the obvious hedging-of-bets pertaining to the mystery behind the wives (which might've been wildly successful if the filmmakers had just stuck to their original vision); Kidman's children disappear at camp, are brought home (off-camera), and then disappear again; one Stepford bunny coughs up money--exactly how is this done according to Christopher Walken's "home movie" near the finish? But the worst is saved for last, when an outlandish twist leads to the kind of teeth-grinding, Larry King-cameoed ending that undermines director Frank Oz's ability to even work on a movie much less direct one. Some of the cartoonish humor (though over-the-top) is entertaining and colorful, and the movie's first 45 minutes are good, but the thicker the plot gets, the more ridiculous the film becomes. *1/2 from ****