Gabriel Grunfeld Movies
Ira Levin's best-selling novel about a town where great wives aren't born but made gets a second screen adaptation in this darkly satirical comedy drama. Joanna Eberhart (Nicole Kidman) is a successful television executive until one day her career hits the glass ceiling and crashes to the ground. Looking to take some time off to start over, Joanna and her husband, Walter Kresby (Matthew Broderick), pull up stakes and move to the peaceful suburban community of Stepford. Walter takes to his new environment with real enthusiasm and joins the local men's organization, headed by one Mike Wellington. Joanna, on the other hand, finds that Stepford is just a bit too quiet and well-groomed for her taste, and is taken aback by the aggressively cheerful and servile attitude of Mike's wife, Claire (Glenn Close), and the other women of the community. A notable exception is Bobbi Markowitz (Bette Midler), a happily misanthropic writer who revels in her lack of enthusiasm for housework or exercise. Joanna and Bobbi become fast friends, but as they look closer at the all-too-perfect surfaces of Stepford and its female inhabitants, they slowly discover a terrible secret lurking beneath. Also featuring Faith Hill, Jon Lovitz, and Roger Bart, The Stepford Wives was previously adapted for the screen in 1975, with Katherine Ross in the lead; that version spawned three made-for-TV sequels. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, (more)
In this drama about love and how it can go wrong, Reese McHenry (Sam Shepard) is the owner of a clothing store who, in 1966, hires Carol Fitzsimmons (Diane Keaton) to work for him as a seamstress. Carol is a widow, and Reese's wife is in a coma; both are lonely, and they begin a habit of going to the movies every Wednesday afternoon, and sometimes also meeting for furtive sexual assignations. But Reese is unable to commit to a more permanent relationship as long as his wife is alive, despite his feelings for Carol, and their love remains in a state of limbo for the next 30 years. Meanwhile, Reese's son Tom (Robert Patrick) and Carol's daughter Katherine (Diane Lane) become romantically involved with no knowledge of their parent's relationship, but Tom's unwillingness to commit mirrors his father's own failings. The Only Thrill was based on the play The Trading Post by Larry Ketron, who also wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diane Keaton, Sam Shepard, (more)
