The Producers
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell

For those not knowledgeable on the subject of Broadway theatre, “The Producers” was a hit play a few years back, winning a total of 15 Tony awards, including Best Musical, Best Actor and Best Actress. In this current incarnation, it is a movie based on a play based on a movie about a play. While that might be too many levels of abstraction for most people, the movie is an absolute delight.

The idea behind “The Producers” is that a producer with questionable ethics – in this case Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane) – could conceivably make far more money by producing a terrible flop than he could with a hit if he were to have a creative accountant, e.g. Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick). With this idea in mind, the titular producers gather the worst script in history, a horrible director and a miscast cast in an attempt to create the worst play of all time. The play that they create, “Springtime for Hitler,” is worth the price of admission alone and is one of the funniest things ever created, be it for stage, screen or whatever.

All of this is punctuated with a variety of songs, all remaining very close to the original source material. The songs are very well choreographed and contain a lot of physical humor and wordplay, so all watchers will have something to keep them amused. Showgirls spring forth from filing cabinets, old ladies have a dance number involving walkers and a tall, striking Swedish blonde, Ulla (Uma Thurman), sings that “When You Got It, Flaunt It.”

Both Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick do a great job reprising their original Broadway roles, and it is obvious that they are very comfortable with the characters and with each other. At many points, it is hard to tell if they are actually on-script or if they are just talking in character – the rapport is just so natural. Newcomers Thurman and Will Ferrell, as the hilarious neo-Nazi Franz Liebkind, also do wonderfully.

The only possible fault of the movie is that it is occasionally too close to the original play. While that means it is the closest that most people will get to seeing the Broadway blockbuster with its original stars, it also limits the movie. Some artifacts from the play, such as awkward blocking and low-quality special effects (which wouldn’t seem to be important but for some reason are), mar the otherwise wonderful show. For those who never got to see the play as it was meant to be seen, which, honestly, is probably just about everyone, this movie is a must-see, no matter what you think about musicals.

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