Joanna Eberhart is a powerful television executive and CEO who plans and has made a successful string of Reality shows. But when her latest show causes uproar and possible lawsuits, it has deemed she has finally gone too far and the studio is forced to fire her. For Joanna it is a shock to her system that she just can’t seem to overcome. She has always been the powerful executive in charge of everything and now she finds herself at the mercy of her husband Walter who was always second best to her. Walter decides that they need to get away and start anew, so he quits his executive job as well and moves Joanna and their two children to the country and a little town called Stepford. But while everything seems fine in Stepford at first as all the wives are perfect homemakers and the men all seem happy, Joanna becomes more and more suspicious as time goes by, all the while Walter is falling in love with the town and how the women all seem second to their husbands for a change. Joanna’s snooping finally uncovers their secret that the Stepford men are replacing their wives with compliant robots. But it might already be too late for Joanna as she is the last person to not want this kind of life as even her husband is beginning to think it might be a good idea to go along with the town. So now Joanna must try and escape town before its too late and she too becomes a Stepford Wife.

There is only one real problem with the movie and that is that the trailer gives away %90 of the movie and all that is left to resolve is how it happens and a little twist at the end. It might not have been possible to keep the secret of the movie under wraps with a movie already done way back in 1975 not to mention the book it was based on but it would have been nice if they had tried. Heck I don’t even keep the secret in the synopsis as there doesn’t seem to be a point with the studios so blatantly giving it away, but it might have been nice to come into the movie with a clean slate and to be somewhat surprised by the plot. The movie though is very funny and even seems to poke fun at itself and the quite sappy message it carries at times, that nothing is perfect and the imperfections are what make life so good. I was surprised by the performance that Matthew Broderick gave as I thought for sure that he would bring the whole movie down but instead he did a plausible role in the movie. But it was easily Nicole Kidman who stole the movie as she seems to shine in almost anything she is in and she plays this role perfectly. They did such a good job that I am highly considering renting the original which I have never seen as just a basis of comparison. The movie could also have been a horror film as well as it is quite creepy at times, but the movie is a good afternoon matinee as while you know what’s going to happen its still fun to find out how it happens.
3.5 stars out of 5