The Producers

[Deleted]

I guess I'm in the minority who finds Mel Brooks hideously unfunny. The trailer was awful.

[Hamatron]

Me too, poorfrances. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who thought Blazing Saddles sucked.

I can't imagine this movie being good, but I haven't seen the trailers yet, so I should at least give it a chance. I generally tend to like Matthew Broderick even when I don't like the overall movie, Nathan Lane is ok usually, but Uma Thurman is a horrible actress. I never believe anything she's in.

[Deleted]

I also think the trailor looks pretty bad. And I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who doesn't think Uma is a good actress.

But the movie has been getting exremelly high test scores, so it might turn out to be a huge hit.

[hillbillylover]

The trailer didn't impress me either. But I still think I will like the movie because it's said to be very faithful to the Broadway show, which I loved.

I know it's totally uncool to say that you like The Producers. But what can I say? I enjoy broad, Bortsch belt-style humor. Those hammy old guys like the late Rodney Dangerfield, the late Henny Youngman and yes, Mel Brooks, crack me up.

[agnesnitt]

properstranger said:

Hot John Barrowman is in this? How did I not know this? Now I'm super-excited for this movie!

John Barrowman?

Captain Jack is in this?

*runs off to see movie*

[goggle]

I saw it yesterday with my friend who is a big Mel Brooks fan, and had seen the original movie (I haven't seen the original movie nor the stage version). We both thought it was great. The theater was mostly full and everyone was laughing constantly and loudly.

Without spoiling anything, stay until the end of the credits.

ETA: Nothing too funny, but usually I like to know if there's a scene after the credits because I pay my $10, I don't want to miss anything.

[huntergrayson]

Well, I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but this was our family's Christmas movie (since my sister veto-ed Geisha - racist. j/k) and I thought it was bad, really, really bad. Like before this thread was bumped, was going to post in worst movie ever bad. I think it was a big mistake to let the theatrical director adapt this - the words "extremely stagey" are an understatement. I've never seen the show on Broadway, but from clips I've seen like on the Tonys and stuff, the opening and closing numbers looked exactly like they did - direct transfers with no regard as to how to adapt - and I think that applies to most of them. About the fifth or sixth time there was a straight-up chorus-line up, I thought she had to be kidding.

There was virtually no editing or cutting to the rhythm to any of the music whatsoever. None. Which is surprising for a choreographer turned director not to have a sense of the "beat." Rob Marshall had never picked up a camera, either, Stroman, but he made it part of the dance. Some people thought it may have been too much, but god, at least he tried. There's just no effort put into making this a film. None. Oh wait, now we can afford 15-20 more extras and shoot outdoors. That's it. And because it's so stagey and in-between, it looks horrible and odd and cheap. Aren't musicals supposed to be pretty? This one looks like crap, aesthetically.

The performances are still turned up very high and stagey - which doesn't play well in close up - I didn't mind as much for Lane (until the end), that always seems part of his shtick, but Broderick's pale creepy face and crazy bug eyes drove me mad. He was god awful. Uma (and to a lesser extent, Will Ferrell) fared better - they weren't in the broadway show- coincidence? Every joke is predictable and telegraphed way in advance, naturally -- which I guess is fine for the 60-year old tourists making up the broadway audience - keep it broad, keep it safe, keep it it pap.

No songs really stood out except 'Springtime for Hitler,' so I don't see the whole point of this darn remake anyway. Brooks isn't a composer - he's writing for humor, not melody, so you're not going home humming the tunes. I liked Uma's number, too, but that was more Uma than the song. And as far as "Keep it Gay" goes - wow, horribly offensive and outdated stereotypes, much? I was cringing when I wasn't trying not to laugh at Lane and Broderick playing the "straight men" (I also nearly cracked up at Uma towering overing Matthew while they danced).

My mother dozed off for a while early on and my sister, who by her own admission doesn't watch many movies and is a horrible reviewer, thought it was too long. Which it was --2 hours and 15 minutes for a film with one of the pithiest plots ever?

What happens after the credits?

That's John Barrowman?! Oh, being not British, I haven't seen him in anything else, but I totally get the squee-ing and the lusting now. Such pretty blue eyes. He has a very small (non-speaking) but totally crucial part - the vocal lead on 'Springtime for Hitler.' Didn't care for the Aryan platinum-dyed blond hair, but yum. Damn him being all taken and the rumors that he's marrying (I'm sorrying, civil union-ing since he doesn't believe in using the words gay marriage - WTFever, dude) his boyfriend.

poorfrances - While I think Brooks has gotten too broad for some tastes, his early stuff was a little better because it had almost a kind of broad deadpan style. Like I think of Young Frankenstein and how much that film tried to look like those old movies and how committed everyone was to existing in that mode, which is what makes it funny -- like Madeline Kahn literally rolling in the hay - she's not selling the joke, she's just doing it with such childlike glee and that makes it hysterical. I don't really blame him for this film sucking -- the original is hilarious (I saw it many, many years ago) and well, sure, I guess the broadway adaptation sounded like a good idea.

[susyhomewrecker]

Aww, I liked it. I've now seen "The Producers" in every incarnation (original movie, musical, musical movie) and enjoyed them all. It was, by no means, a fantastic movie, but it was funny, and that was all I was expecting. I admit it started out pretty slow, and I got the feeling Broderick wasn't always giving 100% the way Lane was, but once Will Ferrell showed up I thought it was hilarious. Since I had read there was more after the credits, we stayed--the closing number was okay, but make sure you listen carefully to the music playing over the credits. It's Will Ferrell singing his German folk song number as a power ballad. At the end he whispers (as if it were a subliminal message), "You should go buy a copy of Mein Kampf. In Paperback. Available at your local Borders. Or Barnes and Noble. Or Amazon.com."

Anyway, my brother and I thought that was funny. But we're big Ferrell fans.

[huntergrayson]

Okay, I read about that, but the AICN review says there's even something else after that in the credits.

Yeah, it was the beginning which put my mom to sleep. I swear it was at least 45 minutes until the scheme was launched and Ferrell was introduced. And, yeah, I thought he was funny as well. But if one of the drawing factors is the vaunted chemistry between Lane/Broderick (OMG!11! They're the best duo since Hope/Crosby, Hepburn/Tracy, Astaire/Rogers) and you need the supporting cast to come in and literally wake your audience up? Bad sign. I really didn't think that they played off of each other that well - it seemed like you had one actor off doing their manic vaudeville shtick and another acting doing their hysterical wannabe Gene Wilder act and they happened to be occupying the same space rather than acting and reacting off each other and using their joint energy. Maybe it was better on Broadway, before Broderick seemingly gave up (and/or had his lifeforce drained by SJP ;D)

I know, I'm a hater. But there's nothing worse than a bad movie musical. It's probably the most difficult genre to get right and one of the most annoying when it fails.

[susyhomewrecker]

Maybe it was better on Broadway, before Broderick seemingly gave up

I'm with you there. I definitely felt like he just wasn't into it.

I guess it didn't really bother me that they seemed to literally take it from the stage. As a (recovering) theater snob, I loved that the musical was an homage to musicals, and I thought the "stagey-ness" of it was because the plot revolves around the theater.

Oh, and after the credits, there's a short closing number that's also in the musical. The whole cast (including Mel Brooks) is in it. If you didn't like the movie, I don't think you missed much. But you can download the song that played over the end credits on iTunes--it's called "The Hop Clop Goes On." My brother and I are still laughing at that.