DVD: The Stepford Wives

Following a mental collapse, career woman Joanna Eberhard (Nicole Kidman) and her family move to a quiet suburban town. While Joanna finds the women in Stepford too perfect to live up to, her husband Walter (Matthew Broderick) has plans to make her fit right in...


According to the tagline of this movie, ‘The women of Stepford have a secret’. Unfortunately, that isn’t true and it’s the main flaw with this film – the secret has been out since the 1972 novel and the 1975 original movie. As proof of this, the DVD extra feature Stepford: A Definition shows how well the term Stepford Wives is known, as the cast and crew discuss what it means to them.

With the main surprise out of the bag, director Frank Oz and writer Paul Rudnik play the movie for laughs. This is the equivalent of someone making a comedy version of The Sixth Sense in 30 years’ time and it doesn’t really work. On the positive side the film is beautifully shot, and the town of Stepford is spookily imagined – like a mix of It’s a Wonderful Life and Twin Peaks. Some modern-day updates add to the overall concept, such as the gay couple living within the community.

Having performed badly at the box office, the DVD has some good extras to tempt you into a purchase. These include a competent commentary by Frank Oz, five features, trailers, six deleted scenes (including one with Broderick’s character and the other husbands that adds a much needed explanation to his backstory) and a genuinely funny gag reel of on-set mistakes. All of which means that the extras are better than the film.

Buy The Stepford Wives on DVD at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com