The Stepford Wives

[ilovemovies9]

Posted: 6/7/04 at 9:20pm

All of you Broadway fans! Check out Bette Midler, Glenn Close and Matthew Broderick in the Stepford Wives!

And... Check out this really cool site for the Stepford Wives! you can use photoshop to morph all your favorite stars into whatever you want! It is so fun!!!!!!!!!

www.stepfordize.com

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/7/04 at 9:28pm

I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't joined to tell us about this. I hadn't heard a THING about this movie. Hadn't seen the commercials, the print ads or all of the interviews that various cast members have been doing to promote the movie.

[FrAiLtYEnCoRe]

Posted: 6/7/04 at 9:34pm

This is a musical board and you are posting about an off-topic, non-musical film. Oh, and btw, thank you for the glorious link that crahed my computer.

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 6/7/04 at 9:35pm

You're good at making friensd ilovemovies9

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/7/04 at 9:35pm

This is a theater board that is often incorrectly thought to be a musical theater board. There is more to Broadway than production numbers.

[newyorkuniq]

Posted: 6/7/04 at 10:05pm

Im going to see it:) Looks cool:)

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/7/04 at 11:50pm

Are there production numbers?

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 12:13am

i feel so important, now movie companies feel he need to shill to us...quickly we must decide which movie we shall use our power to crush. since everybody here pretty much hated the passion and it went on to make like a gajillion dollars, i'm hoping that the same kind of wild enthusiasm for f911 will doom it to raking in less than 25m. can we please begin the process...three...two...one...now!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 12:17am

No no no, while you were away we agreed that we would not crush documentaries. No. We must use our power to destroy a would-be blockbuster. What we need to know is if any of this summer's movies was supposed to star somebody we can get Corine to say is "irreplaceable" but then was replaced. That's how we do it with shows. Remember how Corine killed Millie? She's doing the same thing to Q. But I digress. What movie should we kill?

[DAME]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 12:19am

Who watched Midler on Actors Studio?

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 12:22am

you couldn't have sent a memo? you just let me bumble on in darkness like that? people please! when major decidions like that are made it's just courteous to send an email at least. a friggin' pm, man, throw me a bone here.

Updated On: 6/8/04 at 12:22 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 12:34am

speaking of thrown bones... the answer to our question is in Corine's new Riddick thread.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 12:37am

damn and i thought that would be the hottest thing since ben affleck tore up the screen in daredevil!

[FrAiLtYEnCoRe]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 9:11pm

I agree that there is more to Broadway then musical productions, but think of it this way, would you ever see Stepford Wives on Broadway?

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 6/8/04 at 10:52pm

I watched her on the soup man's show. Brought me to tears when they talked about her best friend who was killed I had no idea that happened. I wish ITAS would have been 2 hours instead of 1. :[
I can't wait for her A&E Biography tomorrow.
She's on Letterman tonight
Live! With Regis and Kelly and The View (with some other cast members) Thursday. The View interview was taped already, and originally supposed to aire on Friday, but has been moved to Thursday because of the Regan Funeral. :P

The cast was also on 20/20 2 Fridays ago; so they have been promoting the film.
I cannot wait to see it.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/13/04 at 7:07pm

SOME SPOILERS: Did anyone else see this damned thing this weekend? I knew it would be ... a disappointment ... but dear God, what a mess. I cannot believe that it cost 90 million. There's a lot to grouse about, but what the hell happens in the last half hour? The entire robot premise is sort of overlaid with a MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE-esque spin (well, I think), and we're not left with satire, or a remotely suspenseful or satisfying denouement to the womped-up plot.

It's startling that so much talent has produced such a flimsy whisp of nothing. Rudnek is a very funny man, who can write farce, and also render a straight forward story v. efficiently (watch his charming "In and Out" again, which I did Friday--it's sweet and real, too). And at least one idea -- the gay couple falling prey to the same spousal resentment syndrome -- is really fresh, if half-baked. It's hard to tell what happened to his handiwork here. Much was likely left on the cutting room floor, and they went back for atleast two sets of reshoots. No matter what says about the original, including its turgid pace and earnestness, it was well-crafted by William Goldman, and playing it straight at least allowed the plot to make sense and pay things off. Here there's no credible explanation for what happens in the script's ludicrous 3rd act. And the movie has no middle -- it simply lurches, uncomfortably, from the set up to the series of confrontations and endings.

Several people are badly served by this, most notably Midler, who could've had a field day with the old Prentiss role, but makes little impression after the first half hour, and Broderick, whose nerdy husband is an assexual black hole on the screen. What will this do for his film career? When he and Kidman reveal they haven't made love in a year, I thought "well, that makes sense.." He is creepy, but not because he's a sexist.

Yes, there are certainly many laughs, some uproarious. At first, it carries the movie. But it's Saturday Night Live skit humor. With no workable plot, it collapses on itself, and Kidman has to suddenly start acting her brains out as the victimized heroine -- as all the humor simply evaporates. There's something wrong with the film of this material if Glenn Close (doing a bit of Norma D in the final half hour)and Roger Bart (as another queen) have all the good material.

A sad debacle, all the more so considering who was involved.

Updated On: 6/13/04 at 07:07 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/13/04 at 8:22pm

"No no no, while you were away we agreed that we would not crush documentaries."

Except Moore. He's the exception. Just remember, he never intended the film to be political.

[Lorelai]

Posted: 6/13/04 at 8:35pm

(sort of spoiler)

But Auggie...the AOL joke....when Nicole Kidman turns to a man (who claims to be a former employee of AOL) and says "Oh so that's why the wives are so slow."

(something like that)

Come on...that got a laugh out of me.

[newyorkuniq]

Posted: 6/13/04 at 8:55pm

Hey...I was in The Stepford Wives and the Manchurian Candidate:) In Stepford i'm in the mass people scene where Nicole is giving a speech:P But I actually got featured in The Manchurian Candidate and got a SAG Waiver ! whoohoo

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/13/04 at 9:00pm

Bronte: It's got lots of laughs, scattered effectively. If only they made up for the lapses!

[nystateomind04]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 12:24am

i want to see it for matthew broderick and roger bart (who got a mention in e.w. by the way, go him!)

and does anyone realize that if ilovemovies is a shill, that he/she suceeded in his/her original purpose anyway- we're talking about the movie!

[Plum]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 1:55am

I just saw the movie, and I have to agree with the comment about it not having much of a middle. The movie also couldn't seem to decide if it was a satire, dark comedy, or suspense/horror movie, especially at the end, which was jaw-droppingly strange. Oh, and Christopher Walken was totally underutilized. But I don't hate this movie. It had several good laughs and some memorably bizarre moments. And Roger Bart was a delight. I guess I wasn't expecting much, so I wasn't disappointed.

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 8:53am

I don't hate the movie, it was fun, but definitely lacking in something. It did seem like there must have been so much more and it ended up on the cutting room floor.
I would get it on DVD and hope that the deleted scenes are added so I can try and piece the movie together.

Bette's only really great scene involved her as the token Jew (excuse the expression) therefore causing her to be dressed up as a certain animal and making jokes about the use of Pine Cones. Her humor really shined in that scene.

I found myself constantly laughing at Glenn Close's character. She was really what kept the moving going in my opinion.
Christopher Walken was definitely underutilized.

The ending is different from the original (so I'm told, because I've never seen the original) and funnier; but the climax and denouement are SO PREDICTABLE!

Nicole Kidman's and Matthew Broderick's chemistry (or lack there of) causes concern for the remake of The Producers. Those two should not be in movies together.

[orion59]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 9:25am

There's more to Broadway than production numbers? Yeah, I guess that's true but think of the possibilities. So many of those dull plays that have no music would be so much better. Imagine a big second act song of awakening and self determination in The Ice Man Cometh. Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolfe could gain a cult following if they would just add a big song and dance routine. Maybe Martha could fly above the stage singing her obsenities to George.

The musical version of Death Of a Salesman? I live for the day it happens.

Back to the topic, Stepford Wives...Wicked fans. Anyone else see the similarities?

[Plum]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 5:31pm

Um...no.