This 2004 reimagining of the classic 1975 movie feels muddled from beginning to end. A husband and wife (played by Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick) leave New York City and relocate to Stepford, Connecticut. There, they find that many of the local wives seem entirely focused on pleasing their husbands, maintaining their homes and gardens, and keeping themselves looking perfect. The husband becomes involved with a secretive men’s group in town that seems to be hiding something. Bette Midler portrays Joanna's closest friend, while Glenn Close and Christopher Walken appear as prominent figures within the community. “The Stepford Wives” initially gives the impression of being an amusing satire, and it has moments where it succeeds, but a gratingly stereotypical character and seriously flawed writing hold it back. The script seemed to suffer from poor oversight, with multiple revisions and additional filming ultimately creating inconsistencies in the plot and leaving gaps in logic. A particularly obvious example is the suggestion that the women are being replaced by robots; one of them is even shown functioning as an ATM. However, later on, Joanna (Kidman) uncovers that they’ve simply been brainwashed through microchips implanted in their brains. This raises questions: if it's mind control via chips, why was there a robotic duplicate of Joanna? Do the men get to select between a robot or a chip-controlled woman? Is this some kind of customizable option with “accessories”? These points are never explained. The movie has a running time of 1 hour and 32 minutes and was filmed in Connecticut as well as New York and New Jersey. GRADE: D+

Source on TMDB