42
Metascore
40 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorContrary to recent rumors that it was a dud, the new Stepford Wives, with its chocolate-box visual style, archly heavy-handed foreshadowing and its scene-for-scene parody of the original's fright strategies (Walken's waxy menace is once again played for laughs), is a gas.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttBecause the entire audience knows what's going on, the filmmakers hope to distract viewers from storytelling weaknesses with an urgent sense of style.
- 50Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumAt no time do the men -- that is, the straight ones -- believably hold the upper hand. In the new town of Stepford, there's no bitterness, no struggle, no competition, none of the scars of the sexual revolution. There's just gay apparel.
- 50Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversClose gets laughs, as does Bette Midler as a Jewish rebel. But the sting is gone.
- 50Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMiami HeraldRene RodriguezIsn't so much bad as it is puny: a sporadically amusing, occasionally funny, but ultimately bland and pointless time killer.
- 50Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyPhiladelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyOnly Close, in a majestically, maniacally brittle demonstration of Stepford overdrive, has the courage to show how nutty the pursuit of domestic perfection is. In this mess of a film, she is perfection.
- 40Los Angeles TimesManohla DargisLos Angeles TimesManohla DargisIt was somebody's nitwit idea to rip out the story's guts and brains for a sour sellout of a finale -- which finds the filmmakers behaving exactly like Stepford men and turning an original into a dummy.
- 40The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensIt does manage to fire off a handful of decent jokes and a few sneaky insights before losing its nerve and collapsing into incoherence.
- 38Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanCharlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanA Frankenstein's monster of a movie: clumsy, patched together from parts that don't align properly, desperate to be loved, destined to be chased by mobs with pitchforks - those will be the critics - until it stumbles into its grave.