SummaryStepford has a secret. All of the wives are far too perfect, and all of the husbands are way too happy. The Stepford Wives is a sophisticated and comic re-imagining of the 1975 suspense classic. Welcome to Stepford -- the American way of love. (Paramount Pictures)
Directed By:Frank Oz
Written By:Ira Levin, Paul Rudnick
The Stepford Wives
Metascore
Mixed or Average
42
User score
Mixed or Average
6.0
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
23% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
43% Mixed
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
35% Negative
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
80
Glenn Close, Bette Midler and Roger Bart (who plays one half of a gay couple slated for Stepfordizing) are hilarious, and even Nicole Kidman flashes comedic gifts not seen since "To Die For."
63
Trying to be more antic and cuttingly funny, it misses the premise's shivery tension. The story loses us at precisely the moment it should put us in the vise.
User score
Mixed or Average
37% Positive
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
51% Mixed
26 Ratings
26 Ratings
12% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
Dec 17, 2012
8
Very interesting. One of the weirdest movies I have ever seen and yet it is witty, surprising, and entertaining.
Oct 29, 2019
5
The 2004 remake of The Stepford Wives, while not the worst thing I have ever seen, certainly is bland and forgettable. I enjoyed a lot of the actors and their performances in this film. Nicole Kidman in particular makes a great horror/comedy protagonist. Christopher Walken, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, and Glenn Close all give fun and entertaining performances. The movie is definitely dated, particularly in terms of its social morality, so be aware of that should you decide to give that a watch.
58
The film's creepier moments are pathetically weak, and its thematic update fails to attain the minimal credibility that even a wild farce needs to sustain itself.
50
At no time do the men -- that is, the straight ones -- believably hold the upper hand. In the new town of Stepford, there's no bitterness, no struggle, no competition, none of the scars of the sexual revolution. There's just gay apparel.
38
Close is the best and worst thing about the film, delivering a performance that upstages even Christopher Walken (!), taking her over-the-top Cruella de Vil turn to its saccharine-sweet opposite.
30
The result: an empty comedy that takes hackneyed potshots at consumerism.
10
A pitiful shambles of a remake, The Stepford Wives might have qualified as a rethinking of the 1975 original if there were any trace of coherent thought in the finished product.
Sep 1, 2014
4
Frank Oz's The Stepford Wives starts out incredibly strong. As the story unfolds, both the direction, the actors and the audiences lose sight of what's going on. An unfortunate waste of ample on-screen talent.
Apr 20, 2013
4
The story is ****, it's sexist as hell, and bland and shallow characters take a back seat to mediocre special effects that you're more likely to see on a YouTube video that was made on Adobe Flash! This movie ****!
Jan 22, 2018
2
We I can't see what I'm typing thanks to Metacritic's need to insert ads on other side, so I apologise in advance for any typos. We so needed a parody of the original Stepford Wives, didn't we? I mean, feminism is dead and women won. We have equal pay now. Older actresses can play the hot lead in a film just as easily as older actors can. No actress has to undergo plastic surgery to look younger and hotter, just to get work. The Christian Right, pro-lifers and MRA don't exist. Hang on. Wait a minute. Maybe The Stepford Wives wasn't quite as ripe for parody as we thought.
Feb 14, 2012
2
This was such a bad comedy! The cast is actually quite impressive, but they do not do much with their shallow characters - and how could they?? Horrible screenplay, and just a bad film overall... Nicole Kidman is decent in the film, and the overall cast is good. Bette Midler is pretty good and pretty much the most entertaining character in this "comedy." As Kidman said at a press statement once "It's a comedy. We hope." Unfortunately, that hope did not materialise into reality, since there is almost nothing funny about The Stepford Wives. It is not even bad enough to be funny - that's how bad it is! The 2 is truly only out of my respect for the misguided actors and for rather good production design - the costumes and art direction were both very well done. Overall, though, a film that had a lot of potential has been **** dry of all its originality, charm and, most importantly, its humour. 2/10
