June 12, 2004 --
THE STEPFORD WIVES THE postcard-pretty "The Stepford Wives" boasts a stellar ensemble cast and some priceless one-liners — but those pearls of acerbic wit have been strung together on a cheap piece of thread which almost inevitably breaks in the third act.
Satire is a difficult trick to pull off at the best of times, and it's even more problematic when the target is as ill-defined as it is in this "comic re-imagining" of the 1975 paranoid thriller, which was based on a novel by Ira Levin.
BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE 'BROADWAY: The Golden Age" is a de lightful "That's Entertainment" for the theater, offering priceless interviews with a who's who of entertainers and behind-the-scenes talent, as well as tantalizing snippets of long-ago performances.
GARFIELD 'GARFIELD" is a downright cat-astrophe, with Jim Davis' lasagna-loving fe line headlining the most atrocious part-live-action movie featuring a badly animated talking animal since the notorious "Howard the Duck."
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE 'NAPOLEON Dynamite," a charming and often hilari ous comedy about the ultimate high school nerd, is refreshing for its simplicity and its originality in a marketplace dominated by soulless blockbusters.
THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK VIN Diesel's star is well on the wane, but you wouldn't know it from the way he postures and struts through "The Chronicles of Riddick," an overlong sequel to 2000's sci-fi cult hit "Pitch Black."
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