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Printer-Friendly ModeThe Producers comes back to its roots - the big screen
January 16, 2006 —
A remake of the 1968 film starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, The Producers is a movie that knows how to have fun. In his review of The Producers, Roger Ebert writes: "The new movie is a success. How much of a success, I cannot be sure. Someone who has seen the original once or twice, or never, would be a better judge." Having never seen the original, this apparently puts me in the highly unusual position of being a better judge of a film than Ebert himself. From that pulpit, let me say that this new version is a large success. A fast-paced work of over-the-top satire, The Producers is a demonstration of how witty and absurdly humorous movies can be.
Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are the replacements for the stars of the original, and while I obviously can't make comparisons, they nevertheless do an excellent job. The basis of this film is a theatrical production of the original starring Lane and Broderick, meaning that The Producers is really a remake of a remake, a transition from film to theatre, and back to film again while keeping many of the theatrical and musical aspects. It's a testament to the strength of the writing and performances that went into this work that it is still enjoyable, even exceptional, after such displacement.
Broderick plays an accountant, Leo Bloom, who is to help a Broadway producer, Max Bialystock (Lane) with, well, some accounting. While doing so, he notes that through some loopholes or trickery in finances, a producer could actually make more money on a production that is a tremendous failure than on a successful one.
Upon hearing this, the intensely greedy Bialystock convinces Bloom to help him put on the most disastrous show possible, and become rich. This takes a lot of convincing; Bloom is so timid and insecure that he literally still takes his security blanket from childhood with him wherever he goes. This is just one example of how over the top the humor in this movie is. Thanks to the nearly flawless performances of the main actors, it works.
The scenes between musical numbers are fantastic. They are sometimes so chock-full of wit, double meanings, and mania, that if you blink, you'll miss it. Interestingly, even here the use of the voices of the actors and actresses, as well as the choreography, plays an important role.
And what of the musical numbers? They seem to be both a help and a hindrance. They help by making the film even more over the top and spectacular, and contain some outrageously funny and clever moments. However, they also hinder the movie sometimes, especially near the end of the film, dragging on past the point at which they strengthen the work. While it is good they were included, they are at times the biggest weakness in the movie.
Rarely boring, The Producers introduces us to character after outrageous character. Will Ferrell keeps much of what makes him funny and little of what makes him annoying and tiresome in his portrayal of Franz Liebkind, a neo-Nazi who has written the play that The Producers eventually decide to put on. Uma Thurman is also effective as Ulla, a singer and dancer from Sweden.
This is a fine film, one of the most fun movies of the year. It may offend some, but only those who are too hard-hearted to lighten up the way the movie intends. It may bore some, but only those who cannot appreciate a well-done song and dance. If you'd rather enjoy a film whose victims are chosen indiscriminately for satire rather than brutality, like Hostel, and a movie that will make you laugh and leave the theatre without dragging your feet, go see The Producers.