The Stepford Wives

Most of the time when a classic horror film is remade, the producers, directors and writers try to bring something new to the screen to expand on the story, whether it be depth to the tale or special effects. But to change the classic into a comedy isn't the way to go. The original Stepford Wives came out in 1975, and starred Katherine Ross, and was a creepy tale about suburban life becoming cookie cutter and sterile, and according to the author Ira Levin the wives needed to be replaced by robots that were exact copies that were able to be controlled by the husbands. .
A family moves into a gated community of Stepford that seems to be to perfect, all of the wives here seem to act obedient and robotic, it seems even suburbia has it's secrets. One of the biggest flaws in this film is that it seems that the writers decided half way through the story to change a major aspect of the tale. At the beginning we are lead to believe that the women are being replaced by robots, just like the original, but then they changed the concept to be that there would be microchips implanted into the brains to control them. The only reason I can see for this is that they wanted a happy ending, and you can't have a happy-ending if you're killing off all the women to be replaced. The jokes aren't funny and the acting is very out of place, even Christopher Walken, who is one of the best actors out there, seems out of his realm but strains to make the best of it.
Remaking older films is nothing new, and making them badly is just as common, the remake that is a success is a gem that isn't found to often and even here you can't find enough good to out weigh the bad. I smiled a few times throughout the film but it wasn't enough to make me say that it was even cute to watch, there was a five minute sequence when the women are at their book club that was good, but as soon as it was over it was completely forgotten in the rest of the story. So if you truly want to see how this story is suppose to be check out the original film, it will be worth your time, but in the mean time if your traveling through Connecticut and see a sign for Stepford, don't stop just keep on going.