2 / 5
The lead up to the play "Springtime To Hitler" is woefully slow, but the play within the movie is unexpectedly spectacular, with dancers as Nazi stormtroopers done Las Vagas style. At the last minute, the lead actor who was to play Hitler (Will Ferell's character, Franz Liebkind) breaks his leg and the role goes to the gay director, Roger De Bris (Gary Beach) who brings the house down with his portrayal of the Nazi leader as a flaming homosexual. What should have been a complete flop ended up being a smash. The outraged audience stopped leaving and instead, were mesmerized by the campy production. Of course, this sends Franz Liebkind over the edge, and on a mission to kill the two co-producers for ridiculing the image of his beloved Fuhrer. And it ruins the scheme hatched by the co-producers to raise more money than needed, stage a flop, then escape to Rio with the surpluss cash.
Nathan Lane was excellent as the high-enegry, manic producer, while boyish Matt Broderick seemed mechanical as the reluctant accountant turned co-producer. I totally disliked his whining child routine with the security hanky/ blanket. Will Ferrell was hysterical as the pigeon fancier, Nazi-wannabe, playwright. Uma Thurman's Ulla character, 100% Hollywood dumb leggy blonde, was the requisite eye-candy for Max Bialystock (Lane) and Leo Bloom (Broderick) but only one of them ended up with her.
The audience, comprised of a lot of seniors, revelled in the film's inherent cheesiness, corny one-liners and the whole silly homo-erotisicsm flavour of the film. I found much of this humour tiresome and in desperate need of some subtlety. If you enjoyed the Austin Powers sequels, then The Producers may be up your alley. I wouldn't see this again or recommend it for everyone.
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