Barely adequate.
The Producers (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:148
Fresh:75
Rotten:73
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Despite the rich source material, The Producers has a stale, stagy feel more suited to the theater than the big screen.
Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins
Genre: Comedies
US Box Office: $19,151,907
Synopsis: This remake of Mel Brooks' 1968 film features Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the roles that they originated in the smash Broadway adaptation of the original film. Broadway producer Max... This remake of Mel Brooks' 1968 film features Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the roles that they originated in the smash Broadway adaptation of the original film. Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Lane) is famous for his spectacular opening night flops. Leopold Bloom (Broderick) is an uptight accountant who virtually discovers gold while reviewing Max's books. When Leo realizes that you can actually make more money with a flop than with a hit, the two team up and begin a search for both the worst script and the worst director they can find to ensure failure. The script selection seems easy when the duo stumble upon SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER, an homage to the Fuhrer penned by Franz Liebkind (Will Ferrell), a German sympathetic to the Nazi cause. Convinced that the script will incite outrage, the duo needs a bad director to seal the deal. Campy director Roger DeBris (Gary Beach) and his assistant (Roger Bart) fit the bill perfectly. But when their scheme fails, Max and Leo find themselves with the worst possible outcome: a hit. To make matters worse, Franz is just a little peeved that Hitler was depicted disrespectfully--and he has a gun. Will Max and Leo survive the playwright's wrath? Will they go to jail for cooking the books? And will Leo ever submit to the advances of sexy Swedish receptionist/actress Ulla (Uma Thurman)? Directed by stage director Susan Stroman, making her feature film directorial debut, this riotous romp features lots of laughs from the major players, as well as brief appearances by Jon Lovitz, Michael McKean, and Richard Kind. Lane and Broderick make it easy to understand why the show was an unprecedented hit on Broadway, and Ferrell is a scene-stealer as Liebkind. [More]
Starring: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell
Starring: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell, Andrea Martin, Gary Beach, Roger Bart
Director: Susan Stroman
Director: Susan Stroman
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for The Producers
Laugh til' you drop - the musical version of The Producers is finally here. When Mel Brooks conceived his comedy satire, the subject matter of ridiculing Hitler was brave to say the least. And nearly 40 years later, it still leaves bite marks.
Finally, in its third incarnation, it's perfect... The story flows better on film and you can see the nuance as opposed to the broad caricature projected to the back row.
Leave the classics alone, Mel. You made three perfect films in your career, more than most people ever could, and now you've remade one of them badly.
Maybe they should call it "The Do-Overs," "The Remakers" or simply, "We're Out of Ideas."
[T]he most recent Producers is a clone of a clone, and what it adds in song and dance it loses in brevity and, as is so often the case, wit.
It's not all it was on stage and it's not all it could be on film. The result is a often jolly, highly-polished compromise, which can't be what anyone intended. Or wanted.
Despite a certain manic energy, the comic schtick between Lane and Broderick feels as stale as last year's croissants; you can tell they've done these jokes a thousand times.
Not so much a film as an awkwardly framed souvenir of the Broadway hit musical, The Producers needs a live audience like a candle needs oxygen.
Brooks' Broadway blockbuster may prove that blustery bad taste is timeless ... Ferrell is so ferociously over the top, I hope the other cast members all got rabies shots.
It's hard to imagine any but the most hardened grouch being able to walk away from the effort without a smile.
Susan Stroman, who directed and choreographed the Broadway show, has shot the movie as if it were the show ...
The new movie is a success, that I know. 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.
Very little of the stage show's fizziness has found its way into a strangely pallid-looking picture.
Stroman keeps things lively, and Lane, in particular, comes into his own. He mugs too much for my taste but then again, The Producers isn't exactly subtle. It wouldn't be The Producers if it were.
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