| MOVIE REVIEWS
The Producers (DVD)
Starring: Nathan
Lane, Matthrew Broderick, Uma Thurman
Director: Susan
Stroman
reviewed by Courtney Bowerman
The Producers keep Broadway bright
A year or so ago, the musical comedy The
Producers came
to the Wharton Center. It was popular back then, yet I
was not interested in seeing it on stage just yet. I
wanted to wait to see the movie adaptation, since it would feature
members of the original Broadway cast, namely Nathan Lane and Matthew
Broderick. As fate would have it, I didn’t get a chance
to see the movie, so I had to wait until it recently came out on
DVD. Was it worth it?
Yes,
it was.
The
Producers is proof that Mel Brooks is still the king of comedy. It’s
the story of a sleazy producer Max Bialystock (Lane), whose latest
musicals turn out to be nothing but a series of flops. His
meek accountant, Leo Bloom (Broderick), unintentionally gives him
some useful information: a producer can actually make more money
with a flop than a hit. The two quickly come up with a seemingly
perfect formula for disaster: putting a pro-Nazi play to music. Unfortunately,
it turns out to be a success (i.e. it’s so bad that it’s
good).
As
it has always been with Brook’s comedies, the silly premise
isn’t as important as the even sillier characters. There
is Roger DeBris (Gary Beach), the world’s worst—not to
mention flamboyant—director and his “assistant,” Carmen
Ghia (Roger Bart); Ulla (Uma Thurman), the Swedish secretary that
almost makes Paris Hilton look like a genius; the various nymphomaniac
old ladies that Max has to pleasure in order to raise money for the
show (no, I am not making this up). Last, but not least, Franz
Liebkind, the crazy Nazi writer, played by Will Ferrell.
Lane
and Broderick show us exactly why they were the stars on Broadway
by demonstrating their vocal and comedic talents. Lane especially
shines in the number, “Betrayed,” which features a hilarious
one to two minute recap of all of the previous songs in the movie. One
may wonder why Broderick usually gets stuck playing nebbish characters
after Ferris Bueller, but in this movie, it works. Ferrell,
as always, is hysterical.
The
songs may seem new to those that never saw the original musical,
yet enjoyable all the same. Examples such as “Springtime
for Hitler,” “I Wanna Be A Producer”, and “Keep
It Gay” are sure to become classics. The musical itself
is a refreshing change from tragedies such as Les Miserables, Miss
Saigon, and Rent. As brilliant as those shows
are, they are terribly sad. Didn’t musicals used to be
happy?
The
DVD has a few extra features that include deleted numbers that didn’t
make the final cut, analyzing musical sequences, and outtakes. They
aren’t much, yet they are entertaining all the same. The
outtakes are almost as funny as the actual movie.
As
stated earlier, The Producers takes us back to a time when
a musical could have good musical and be happy at the same time. I
love Moulin Rouge as much as the next person, but real life
is depressing enough without inventing sadder stories. As Roger
DeBris and Carmen state in one song, “A happy ending will
pep up your play!”
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