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"THE STEPFORD WIVES" (2004) (Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick) (PG-13) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Mild Minor Heavy Mild Moderate Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Mild Minor Mild None Mild Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Heavy Minor Mild Moderate Moderate QUICK TAKE: Comedy/Thriller: A woman becomes suspicious of the perfect and cheery wives in her new idyllic town. PLOT: Joanna Eberhart (NICOLE KIDMAN) and Walter Kresby (MATTHEW BRODERICK) are a married couple that's been quite successful in the TV business. When she's let go over potential lawsuits based on her reality shows, she has a breakdown and the two move with their family from Manhattan to the idyllic town of Stepford Connecticut. There, the homes are huge and the wives are near perfect and always cheery, a matter that realtor Claire Wellington (GLENN CLOSE) successfully maintains through diligence. Her husband, Mike (CHRISTOPHER WALKEN), welcomes Walter into the local men's club where he meets the less than perfect husbands, such as Dave Markowitz (JON LOVITZ), who are pleased with the subservient and ready to please spouses, such as Sarah Sunderson (FAITH HILL). Yet, there is some discontent. Dave's author wife, Bobbie (BETTE MIDLER), doesn't keep a spotless home or look highly upon the way the townsfolk live. Then there's architect Roger Bannister (ROGER BART) whose gay life partner, Jerry Harmon (DAVID MARSHALL GRANT), isn't pleased that he's so flamboyant and effeminate. As Walter quickly fits in with the other husbands and their mindset, Joanna tries to do the same with the ladies, but becomes increasingly suspicious of the communal mindset, especially when others seemingly fall prey to it. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Older teens might be, but unless any others are fans of someone in the cast, it doesn't seem too likely. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For sexual content, thematic material and language. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: NICOLE KIDMAN plays a former TV executive who has a nervous breakdown before moving to Stepford. There, she tries to fit in and save her marriage, but becomes increasingly suspicious of how the townsfolk live. MATTHEW BRODERICK plays her husband who's upset that their marriage is nearly failed and is jealous of her always being more successful than her in every endeavor. He quickly adopts the mindset of the local men, but then questions that. He briefly drinks and smokes. BETTE MIDLER plays the local author who joins Joanna in her growing suspicion of the way the townsfolk live and think. JON LOVITZ plays her piggish husband who wants her to be like the near perfect and always cheery other wives. GLENN CLOSE plays the local realtor and unofficial leader of the women who makes sure they maintain their pleasing demeanor. CHRISTOPHER WALKEN plays her husband who runs the local men's club and wants to bring Walter into the fold. ROGER BART plays a gay architect who doesn't fit into the mold of the perfect spouse, much to the dismay of his life partner. DAVID MARSHALL GRANT plays his gay lover, a conservative man who isn't pleased that Roger is effeminate and flamboyant. FAITH HILL plays one of the near perfect ladies who has a brief meltdown. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this comedy thriller that's been rated PG-13. Profanity includes one mild slang term for sex, while various colorful phrases are uttered. Other sexually related dialogue and innuendo (some of it comedic) is present, while a loud and exaggerated sexual encounter is heard. Some women and a few men are seen in varying degrees of revealing attire, while several gay characters are present. A robot has its head knocked off, a woman is shocked and possibly killed, and a man tries to kill a woman by shooting at her. Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, while some drink and/or smoke. Some tense family material is present, and a few scenes might be a little tense or suspenseful to some viewers, although most everything is played with some or a lot of comedic undertones. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE As Sarah acts erratically, a person comments on her being drunk (she's not). Miscellaneous people have drinks, including Walter. Roger and others drink. We see a cartoon woman bringing a martini to her cartoon husband who's then seen drinking it. Miscellaneous people have champagne. A man asks his wife to grab him another Scotch from the bar. BLOOD/GORE Mike briefly talks about the concept of farting in bed. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Some viewers might not like jokes/cracks made at the expense of Jews, gays and blondes. Walter is jealous of Joanna's past success over him in most every endeavor and has no problem with what the men of Stepford have done with and to their wives. The men of Stepford have bad attitudes (for the above) and wanting to do the same to newcomers in their town. After Dave asks Bobbie why she doesn't make cupcakes like Joanna, Bobbie asks why he doesn't. He then replies it's because he has a penis. Claire admits that she came home in the past to find her husband with another woman. It's implied that a woman murdered two people in the past. FRIGHTENING SCENES Joanna and Bobbie sneak into the men's club and then hide as someone approaches in the dark. Joanna discovers that another woman has become one of the automatons and then watches as the woman comes toward her and then unknowingly puts her own hand in the flames on a stove and doesn't react. A supine robot's eyes suddenly open (revealing either black eyes or empty eye sockets). GUNS/WEAPONS Handgun: Used in an unsuccessful attempt to kill someone. See "Violence" For Details. We see a boy's drawing of the above shooting incident with stick figures representing the people and dashes for the bullets. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Bitches," "Perfect sex kitten bimbos," "Like some alien freak show," "I'm no sissy," "Wuss," "Damn right" and "She's nuts." We see Dave with a cartoon face drawn on his exposed belly (that he briefly makes "talk"). The men cheer on a small, non-human robot battling another similar one that eventually removes a real bra from it. We later see Dave holding that bra. JUMP SCENES A supine robot's eyes suddenly open (revealing either black eyes or empty eye sockets). MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A mild amount of traditional and comedy-oriented suspense music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 1 slang term for sex ("do"), 3 damns, 8 uses of "Oh my God" and 1 use of "Jesus Christ." SEX/NUDITY We see some old, 1950s and '60s era footage showing some women in period-style bikinis and other such swimwear. In a game show promo, the host asks a man and woman who wants to be with a hot sexy lesbian and both contestants enthusiastically respond that they do. In another such promo for a reality series called, "I Can Do Better," we hear that a married couple is taken to an island and surrounded by professional prostitutes. At the end of the show, a husband and wife are seen with the respective people they were with for the week. The husband is with a bikini clad woman and while he states he had fun in the hot tub with her, he adds that nothing happened as all they did was talk. The wife, however, is seen with a host of scantly clad men and women (including a male body builder in a tiny, Speedo-type bottom, and the cast of the triple X film, "Hung Jury"). She then states that in the past she only had sex with one man, adding that it was usually Hank. She then states that she can do better. We later hear that she then had five boyfriends. Joanna shows some cleavage when she bends over. Some miscellaneous women show cleavage. A Stepford wife notes that she likes Walter's khakis and then says, "Now I know why they call it Banana Republic." During a square dance, Claire drops a possible line of innuendo when she tells the ladies to "please your cowboy with your feet." Walter jokingly makes up a name for one of Joanna's shows as "I can do everybody." Walter complains to Joanna that they haven't made love in over a year. Joanna, Bobbie and Roger go to see Sarah and sneak into her house through an unlocked door. They then hear sexual sounds (her moaning, saying things like "Oh yes," "Make me beg" and "You're the king," and rhythmic bed squeaking). They begin to sneak up the stairs (after one asks if that's a DVD they're hearing) when they hear Sarah's extremely loud and long orgasmic yelling. Moments later, and not seeing Sarah, Roger presses her remote control and unknowingly causes Sarah's bust to increase (in her small nightgown). Joanna comments on Sarah having incredible sex with her (Sarah's) husband in the middle of the day. Roger states that he uses an anti-depressant with a Viagra chaser so that "Your up and your up." The men cheer on a small, non-human robot battling another similar one that eventually removes a real bra from it. We later see Dave holding that bra. We see some miscellaneous cleavage. After hearing about the other women's crafty ideas about using pine cones, Bobbie sarcastically states that she's going to attach one to her vibrator and really have a merry Christmas. Bobbie comments on the women being perfect sex kitten bimbos. Bobbie asks Roger if the men have hookers, old Playboys or cable porn in their men's only club (he says they don't). Bobbie shows some cleavage. Walter confronts Joanna about all the things she's better at than he is, including sex. He then tells her not to deny that latter part and she replies that she wasn't going to. Miscellaneous women show cleavage in low-cut dresses. We see life-sized shapes of women's bodies in a lab (they appear to be drawings or something similar, but do show the shapes of breasts, albeit in a non-explicit fashion). We hear the title of Bobbie's new book that's something along the lines of wait until he's asleep and then cut it off. SMOKING Walter and Roger each smoke cigars once. We see a cartoon husband with a cigar. TENSE FAMILY SCENES Walter complains to Joanna that their marriage is falling apart and then proclaims it's over. Claire admits that she came home in the past to find her husband with another woman. It's implied that a woman murdered her husband and his lover in the past. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Conformity. The notion that perfect doesn't work. Reality TV. Two men are in a gay relationship (with one being portrayed as effeminate and flamboyant). VIOLENCE A disgruntled reality TV show participant fires two gunshots at Joanna, missing her but breaking some glass above her. Security guards then wrestle him to the floor. We also hear that he shot and wounded his ex-wife and her five boyfriends. Joanna spots Mike violently twisting the neck of Sarah who's on the floor after acting erratically and malfunctioning. As a man comes at Walter with what appears to be a huge candlestick, Joanna hits that man on the head with something large, knocking his robotic head off. A woman receives a large shock when she kisses a robotic head (she falls to the ground, but then crawls back toward the head where she either passes out or dies). Reviewed June 8, 2004 / Posted June 11, 2004

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