What's so special about The Stepford Wives?

When you consider that Hollywood hasn't really profited from making movies out of Ira Levin's suspense yarns, except for the landmark Rosemary's Baby, you may wonder why his novels should still enamour anybody.

The movies Sliver, starring Sharon Stone, and A Kiss Before Dying, based on his international best sellers, have had mediocre runs at the box office. Yet, Hollywood has remade one of his minor successes, The Stepford Wives (1975), to mediocre reviews.

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The movie revolves around a young couple that moves from Manhattan to the upper class suburb of Stepford, Connecticut, and slowly discovers that the men there are turning their wives into robots.

Perhaps Hollywood saw much more potential in the book? And perhaps and decided to spend $90 million, hoping director Frank Oz would create a film that would connect with an audience who may not remember the 1975 film?

The new The Stepford Wives, which is supposed to be wickedly and darkly funny unlike the original, which was mostly a horror film, rolls out this Friday.

The movie also has an interesting star cast: Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken, Faith Hill and Glenn Close. A Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks co-production, it has several successful names attached to it. One of its producers, Scott Rudin, has made many literary hits (including The Hours, Iris), as well as mainstream successes (School Of Rock, Shaft). It is scripted by Paul Rudnick (In & Out) and directed by Oz (The Score, Bowfinger).

Yet the film has also been creating negative buzz, with some wondering whether it will turn out to be summer's first real turkey. Recent films like Van Helsing are said to be profitable in the long run, though they have had mediocre success in North America.

But word on The Stepford Wives, which has had many test screenings and underwent a crucial reshoot a few weeks before opening, is so strongly negative that The New York Times, which shuns gossip for the most part, ran a long story on the film. It also complained that no production member would talk about the film. Even a Paramount Pictures spokesperson, who declared the distributor was "very, very happy with the movie," would not give his name.  

The Stepford Wives is not the first film to carry strong negative buzz. Many films, most famously Titanic, have not only survived the negative publicity; they have also gone to be big money earners. But some films like The Alamo, in recent months, have just not been able to rise above the negative chatter.

The Times story also pointed out how many hit films, including Fatal Attraction and Airplane, were rescued in the editing room. A new ending was ordered for Fatal Attraction following poor results from various tests. The Times suggested that Stepford Wives too could overcome the negative talk surely.

The story also mentioned how The First Wives Club tested poor when its uncut three-hour long version was shown in 1996 and had to undergo new shooting. The comedy, dominated by female stars Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton, went on to become a $220 million worldwide hit.

The Times forgot to mention Scott Rudin was also one of the producers on the movie.

In two weeks, we will know if The Stepford Wives have proved the sceptics wrong. And Rudin right.