Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Purely Joyful Movie!

Let's be realistic.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

You remember the existence of the Christian Right, the MRA, pro-lifers, the gender pay gap, the sexual harrassment scandals all over the world and the fact that no older actress ever gets to play the lead hottie like the boys do. Suddenly the film seems a lot more relevant in 2018 than we'd like to believe, doesn't it? Makes you wonder why anybody thought it needed parodying in 2004. Were we pretending women had equality, particularly in the industry the bulk of the scandals have come from?Creepiest line in the film? Walter's comment to Carol's husband: " She looks as good as she cooks, Ed" within hours of arriving in Stepford. Walter KNEW before he moved his wife there!

Ira Levin wrote the book. It involves the town of Stepford where a male dominated culture reveals that all the wives are completely under the thumbs of the men, devoting their lives to pleasing them. The predictable turn of events is that a woman who is quite amazed at this gets into the mix. When she tries to befriend these women in a time of liberation, she is astonished at their willingness to act in this way. However, we find out that there's much more to their actions than she supposed. Somehow we have a kind of manipulation of the women, even replacement with androids, that sets the rest of the film. The problem here is that when dealing with human beings, the secrets seem impossible. The men are the ones I see as blowing the lid on this thing. it's an interesting premise, but awfully hard to swallow.

Joanna Eberhardt (Katharine Ross) and husband Walter (Peter Masterson) move their family from Manhattan to a quiet suburb called Stepford. All of the wives there seem to be completely subservient to their husbands. Before long, Joanna begins to suspect there may be more to the housewives' behavior than meets the eye. She also wonders if the mysterious Men's Association, of which her husband is the newest member, is behind it all.I liked this movie a lot more than I expected to. I've read before that the film was too slow but I enjoyed the pacing. I went into this knowing, more or less, what the plot was all about so I wasn't surprised by much. Still it was an enjoyable "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" type of thriller with some sci-fi elements and dark humor. The cast is good. Ross isn't a favorite of mine but she's fine here. Paula Prentiss is the standout, however. Her effortless and charismatic performance as the Ethel to Katharine Ross' Lucy helped soften the somewhat icy Ross. Tina Louise is also in it and enjoyable. The only real fault casting-wise is Nanette Newman, wife of the director. She doesn't seem the right fit for her part. But otherwise the movie has a solid cast. It's an entertaining film. It obviously has some subtext to it that many will find interesting to chew on. Whether you're one of them or not, it's got enough going for it to make for an enjoyable straightforward viewing experience.

Ira Levin's story of a diabolical plot to turn housewives into robots is made into a mild film by director Bryan Forbes. Katherine Ross moves to a sleepy Connecticut town only to find that the men, who meet every night, are turning their wives into drones who do nothing but serve them & do housework. Oddly, despite the horrific premise, there's nary a thrill in this snail paced film. Ross brings a lot of pepper to her role and she's ably supported by the likes of Peter Masterson, Tina Louise, Nanette Newman and, best of all, Paula Prentiss. Prentiss is very lively as Ross's kooky friend. It's unfortunate that this very sunny film is not scary in the slightest; it's just dull. Owen Roizman's cinematography is terrific but there's not much else to recommend.