DVD Review: The Producers (2005)

This is the film adaptation of the 2001 Broadway musical adaptation of the 1968 Mel Brooks film, a comedy classic starring Zero Mostel as Broadway producer Max Bialystock and Gene Wilder as Leo Bloom, his accountant. After Bloom makes an off-the-cuff remark about how investors in failed productions don’t get their money back, they concoct a plan to oversell shares in a show that is guaranteed to fail and keep all the money. They pick the worst script, the worst director and the worst actor. It seemed like the plan couldn’t miss.

I saw the Los Angeles run of The Producers starring Jason Alexander and Martin Short. To be more accurate, I saw the first act and then left at the intermission because I thought the musical was awful. The performances were bad; instead of creating the characters Bialystock and Bloom, Alexander was playing Nathan Lane, who created the role on Broadway, and Martin Short was playing Martin Short. I found the stereotypical Jewish and homosexual jokes a tad annoying and immature and the audience laughter frustrated me. The songs weren’t memorable, either.

For the musical adaptation, changes are made to the story. Ulla and director Roger DeBris have much larger roles now, and the character Lorenzo St. Dubois, played in the original by Dick Shawn, has been cut. In addition, the ending is more cheerful. For the film adaptation, the director/choreographer of the Broadway show, Susan Stroman, and most of the original cast made the transition, except for Cady Huffman, who played secretary Ulla, and Brad Oscar, who played playwright Franz Liebkind. Uma Thurman and Will Ferrell performed those characters.

The Producers (2005) is fun, musical romp and I can see what all the hoopla was about. I enjoyed Lane and Matthew Broderick’s performances. They are a funny comedic team and are also good song and dance men. The musical numbers are very impressive in their design and choreography. The two standouts are the spectacular “I Wanna Be a Producer” and “Along Came Bialy” with its chorus lines of old women and their walkers.

Article Author: Gordon S. Miller

Gordon S. Miller is the artist formerly known as El Bicho, the nom de plume he used when he first began reviewing movies online for The Masked Movie Snobs in 2003. Before that year was out, he became that site's publisher. …

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