The Stepford Wives, 2004
I rented The Stepford Wives on DVD this weekend and enjoyed it. It’s totally campy and over-the-top but I enjoyed it more than I expected to.
It’s been changed considerably from the book by Ira Levin and from the first movie version which I did not see.
The latest version even has a gay couple that moves to Stepford in the hope of being just like all the straight people. At one point, Roger (played by Roger Bart who is current playing the pharmacist on Desperate Housewives) converts from being a swishy architect into a Republican politician preaching family and God.
The new version is more a stinging satire on conformity and the illusion of perfection and control, rather than the commentary on weak males afraid of strong women that was Levin’s book.
The film, which was not well-received by critics, seems more timely after Bush’s reelection than it would have before "moral values" became the litmus test for presidential elections in November, 2004.
It’s not a great film but nonetheless entertaining.
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