Coming up next is 2004's "The Stepford Wives", the story of a woman who moves to Stepford, Connecticut, after having a mental collapse. What she discovers is going on in the town is beyond anything she could believe. This is an updated version of the 1975 thriller of the same name.
The film's cast includes Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Glenn Close, Christopher Walken, Roger Bart, Jon Lovitz, Faith Hill, Carrie Preston, Billy Bush, Meredith Vieira, KaDee Strickland, Larry King, and Mary Beth Peil.
Joanna Eberhart is a successful producer of reality television shows in New York.
All of that success comes to a screeching halt when a disgruntled reality show contestant brings a gun and opens fire during a talk given by Joanna. She is subsequently fired by the network.
Joanna has a complete mental breakdown because of the incident. And she is given electroshock therapy as part of her treatment.
Her husband, Walter Kresby, decides to move the family to Connecticut. Specifically, he moves them to an ultra-exclusive gated community called Stepford.
The kids are delighted with the house that Walter has purchased. It's a smart house, and it even comes with a smart-puppy, Robo Rover 3000.
The realtor (and mayor's wife), Claire Wellington, gives the rundown on Stepford. "Stepford is Connecticut’s family paradise. It has no crime, no poverty, and no pushing," she says proudly. She's very 1950's housewife.
Claire takes Joanna to meet the rest of the Stepford wives. Joanna can't believe the way these women act, especially during an exercise class. The women wear dresses and heels to workout.
Meanwhile, Walter visits the Stepford Men's Association, and he gets a feel for the men of the community.
At a Fourth of July celebration, Joanna tells Walter she doesn't like the women of the town. "Walter, you just don't get it. These women are like deranged, flight attendant friendly.They're gonna be all over me," she says.
It's at this celebration that Joanna meets someone who, like her, doesn't fit into the Stepford stereotype. Bobbie Markowitz is a writer, and she can't stand the women just like Joanna.
Things take a strange twist when one of the women starts behaving robotically. The mayor of the town, Mike Wellington, arrives and she is quickly bundled off in his hummer, which Joanna thinks is very odd. Why wasn't an ambulance called?
Things get stranger when Joanna and Bobbie attend a meeting women's meeting. All the women want to discuss is a book on Christmas decorating. Bobbie, in particular, is less than thrilled.
Walter finds out about the wives. The men tell him that their wives are robots, engineered so that they will be the perfect wives. Walter leaves and doesn't say a word to Joanna about what he's learned.
Joanna and Bobbie do some digging into the past of the Stepford wives. They find out that they all had careers and other interests before their move to Stepford, which just makes them more curious as to what is going on.
Joanna is horrified when she goes to visit Bobbie one day and discovers that she has become one of those stereotypical Stepford wives. She runs from the house in a panic.
Seeking answers, she runs to the Men's Association, where she finds out exactly what is going on, and that she is the next intended victim. Nanochips are placed within the wives, and that is what turns them into robots.
However, it is up to the husband to make the final changes. Walter and Joanna disappear through the floor to the association's changing room, leaving the other men and Mike waiting the finished results.
The next thing we know, Joanna is at the supermarket and looking like a Stepford wife.
Later on, a dance is held at which Walter and Joanna are the guests of honor.
It turns out Walter didn't change Joanna, because he "didn't marry something from Radio Shack". While Joanna distracts Mike, Walter goes to the main computer and deactivates the nanochips. The result: some very angry wives who confront their husbands over what they've done.
Mike gets angry and starts to attack Walter. Before he can do so, Joanna knocks him in the head with a heavy candlestick. Walter is decapitated and revealed to be a robot. The whole mastermind of Stepford was his wife, Claire. "And then I asked myself, where would people never notice a town full of robots? Connecticut!" (Glenn Close gives a brilliant performance in this particular scene.)
She gets electrocuted and dies after kissing the energized head of her robot husband, Mike.
The women of Stepford get their revenge. They place their husbands under house arrest and have them do all the tasks they themselves were expected to do. When the men gather at the supermarket and begin chatting, a voice comes over the loudspeaker and says, "No talking, keep shopping".
Larry King.........................................Himself
Mary Beth Peil....................................Helen Devlin
And that's it for The Stepford Wives. I much prefer this version over the original. I think it's because it has a happy ending. Originally, the film was supposed to have the darker ending, but it was scrapped after test audiences reacted negatively.
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