The Stepford Wives (2004)
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27% of critics liked it
(166 reviews) -
36% of users liked it
(193,205 ratings)
Ira Levin's best-selling novel about a town where great wives aren't born but made gets a second screen adaptation in this darkly satirical comedy drama. Joanna Eberhart (Nicole Kidman) is a successful television executive until one day her career hits the glass ceiling and crashes to the… More Ira Levin's best-selling novel about a town where great wives aren't born but made gets a second screen adaptation in this darkly satirical comedy drama. Joanna Eberhart (Nicole Kidman) is a successful television executive until one day her career hits the glass ceiling and crashes to the ground. Looking to take some time off to start over, Joanna and her husband, Walter Kresby (Matthew Broderick), pull up stakes and move to the peaceful suburban community of Stepford. Walter takes to his new environment with real enthusiasm and joins the local men's organization, headed by one Mike Wellington. Joanna, on the other hand, finds that Stepford is just a bit too quiet and well-groomed for her taste, and is taken aback by the aggressively cheerful and servile attitude of Mike's wife, Claire (Glenn Close), and the other women of the community. A notable exception is Bobbi Markowitz (Bette Midler), a happily misanthropic writer who revels in her lack of enthusiasm for housework or exercise. Joanna and Bobbi become fast friends, but as they look closer at the all-too-perfect surfaces of Stepford and its female inhabitants, they slowly discover a terrible secret lurking beneath. Also featuring Faith Hill, Jon Lovitz, and Roger Bart, The Stepford Wives was previously adapted for the screen in 1975, with Katherine Ross in the lead; that version spawned three made-for-TV sequels. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Frank Oz
- Written By
- Paul Rudnick
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comedy
- In Theaters
- Jun 11, 2004 Wide
- Studio
- Paramount Pictures
Critic Reviews
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Rex Reed, New York Observer
To paraphrase Paul Rudnick's Premiere magazine movie-critic alter ego, Libby Gelman-Waxner: It's flat, cold, fork-resistant and tasteless, if you ask me.
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Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine
It has a wonderfully wounding malice directed at both the Stepford, Conn., contingent of Energizer Bunny wives and the New Yorkers who have just moved in.
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J. Hoberman, Village Voice
It has two speeds -- obvious and more so.
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Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
Very good dialogue, the rest of this stuff just falls apart.
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Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
Satirizing The Stepford Wives is pointless.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Nicole Kidman
as Joanna Eberhart
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Matthew Broderick
as Walter Kresby
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Bette Midler
as Bobbi Markowitz
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Glenn Close
as Claire Wellington
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Christopher Walken
as Mike Wellington
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Roger Bart
as Roger Bannister
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David Marshall Grant
as Jerry Harmon
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Jon Lovitz
as David Markowitz
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Faith Hill
as Sarah Sunderson
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Lorri Bagley
as Charmaine Van Sant
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Tom Riis Farrell
as Stan Peters
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Matt Malloy
as Herb Sunderson
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Robert Stanton
as Ted Van Sant
- Mike White
- Jason Kravitz
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Colleen Dunn
as Marianne Stevens
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Lisa Masters
as Carol Wainwright
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Kate Shindle
as Beth Peters
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Christopher Evan Welch
as Ed Wainwright


