The Producers [DVD] [2005]

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Product Description ------------------- Bringing the Tony Award Winning musical on to the big screen. New York, 1959. Max Bialystock was once the king of Broadway, but now all his shows close on opening night. Things turn around when he's visited by the neurotic accountant Leo Bloom, who proposes a scheme tailor-made for producers who can only make flops: raise far more money than you need, then make sure the show is despised. No one will be interested in it, so you can pocket the surplus. To this end, they produce a musical called Springtime for Hitler written by escaped Nazi Franz Liebken. Then they get the insanely flamboyant Roger De Bris to direct. Finally, they hire as a lead actress the loopy Swedish bombshell Ulla (whose last name has over 15 syllables). As opening night draws near, what can go wrong? Well, there's no accounting for taste... .co.uk Review ------------- The film-of-the-musical-of-the-film, The Producers unites the hit Broadway pairing of Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, drafts in Uma Thurman, and somewhere along the way loses half the fun that made the original movie and the Broadway show such a success. Under the watchful eye of creator Mel Brooks, this may be a musical version but it tells the same tale--two men stumble across a great way to make money, by putting on a Broadway flop. So off they go to devise the most offensive, sure-fire failure, only to see their creation--Springtime For Hitler--become the town’s hot ticket. While there’s undoubtedly some fun to be had here, and Lane and Broderick are clearly have a great time in their roles, there are a couple of key problems with The Producers. Firstly, and most crucially, is the staid direction. This very much feels like a camera was placed in front of a stage, and it hurts the film a lot. Secondly, the wonderful energy of Mel Brooks’ original movie is sadly lacking, and at no time does this no version threaten to be an equal to its predecessor. And yet there are winning moments, some good laughs, and a gentle couple of hours of entertainment. Yet the key attraction is clearly a chance for the majority who never got to see Lane and Broderick treading the boards in their accled performances before, and for many, that rightly justifies the asking price. You just can’t help wishing the film around them was a little better, though.--Simon Brew