The Stepford Wives

The version of the story that's now playing in theaters is more of a comedy than a paranoid thriller in the style of the book it's loosely based on. The cloying sweetness of Stepford -- the ultimate "gated community" -- is played to a point almost beyond satire, and scenes such as the extended closeup on the face of Nicole Kidman's character after she receives bad news early in the film, or a subsequent scene in which a Stepford Wife goes haywire in the middle of a dance floor, or the very strange gag about a oddly-located ATM machine, are so broadly comedic that it's difficult to feel any real sense of danger as the secrets of Stepford work their way closer to the surface. However, some of the comedic bits work on their own merits, and the film does have an entertaining surprise ending that has something to say about either sex regarding the other as a trophy or prize possession. The opening sequence, with its short, sharp parody of so-called "reality" shows, also says something about a culture in which people feel entitled or obliged to "conquer" the other. If all relationships must have a "winner" and a "loser" who is, at best, treated as a submissive possession, can anything but Stepford or some other dysfunctional social order be the result?