Good movie but grossly overrated

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

How ridicilous! Especially when you watch this movie under the German title "Terro in New York". There is neither terror nor New York. It's just Stepford. And we all know the better movie with Nicole Kidman, Glenn Close... Dispensable!

I can't help but notice the subtlety of the original movie is completely lost in this sequel. What gave the original all the good scares and chills was the events creeped up on you slowly by surprise. In the Revenge movie, Arthur Hill has an exact plan every few minutes on how to eliminate anyone who wants to escape from Stepford or disrupt the rigid control of the Men's Association. For example, the warm up shows a man and his wife want to move to California. Bam! They make his station wagon crash in five minutes. Sharon Gless plays a reporter doing a story on the nation's most perfect community. But the fact something is wrong just hits her in the face from the very start..Any idiot would leave town in ten minutes to alert the world. The air of mystery has been completely eliminated.

With the recent remake of the original Stepford Wives, this time as a comedy with Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken, Glenn Close and Matthew Broderick, there may be interest in in the original with Katherine Ross and Paula Prentiss, as well as this 1980 sequel with Sharon Gless, Don Johnson and Julie Kavner, yes, she who does the voice of Marge Simpson. I would see this version first before I would see the original 1975 movie. Normally I do not care for women vs. men programs done in such a moralistic light, but I am aware of sexism in society and that there is beliefs and opinions that women "should be more supportive, obedient and submissive" to their men, with the men not having to reciprocate. Having since seen the original, which seemed more like a spoof on tv commercials to me than anything else, this one did seem to delve more into women being doting housewives. Gless was a single woman who came to town. That alone upsets this whole cart. I wonder how Stepford handled that? Does someone get a concubine in the process? We did glimpse an unnamed couple attempting to flee at the very beginning. They don't make it. I was misled to think this was a couple shown in the original, which they weren't. Also, this one did take the approach that the women aren't replaced with robots, they are drugged.The first Stepford was more of a Twilight Zone movie as well. This one sought to give the wives their revenge. Granted, had the robots of the first one rebelled, it might have been interesting, but then it could also have simply been "Westworld, the Women."Nevertheless, nothing failed in this sequel. The siren going off for the women to take the medication could have been absurd, but it was kept low-key, as was the women in the lacy outfits and aprons.I only truly grasped there was something impractical about the dresses when Kavner commented to Gless about it in the car.Yes, Revenge was nearly a totally different movie from Stepford Wives, different motives, different outcome, but there has been sequels that pretty much follow the same path as the original and those are no fun.Want to see the women lose? See the 1975 movie.Want to see the men lose? See the 1980 sequel.There is a third, horrendous movie, called Stepford Children, with Barbara Eden, Don Murray and Tammy Lauren. Avoid this one at all costs. It doesn't add anything further to this concept.

OK, so the plot is far-fetched, lame and offensive - the movie is a hoot! Keep in mind that I would watch anything with Sharon Gless - but she and Julie Kavner are a good team. A young Don Johnson appears as bland and clued-out Kavner's cop husband. Sharon, the reporter, arrives to do a story on the perfect town of Stepford. She hires Julie as an assistant who promptly gets nabbed by the Stepford gang. Her husband is in on it, of course. Sharon sets out to save Julie - Don and the whole town set out to stop her. Lots of chases, peril and the bad guys get what they deserve. Save it for a rainy day when you want a taste of some familiar TV faces in their early years.