|
The Producers
Directed By: Susan Stroman
The Producer (who else?!): Mel Brooks
Written By: Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan
Cast: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell
http://movies.aol.com/movie/main.adp?tab=trailers&mid=19246
Welcome back Mel Brooks! After a string of some of the best, most memorable and quotable comedies of all time, he went through
a critical lashing (most notable in the 90s) when his style of humour seemed to pass audiences by. Following the likes of
Airplane and Naked Gun, Brooks' attempts came off as stale at best and at times excruciatingly unfunny. But when you've got
an Oscar-winning story, flaunt it baby, which is precisely what Brooks did, re-jigging The Producers as a Broadway musical
(a form it always seemed destined for.) The result was an overwhelming sensation with audiences and a record amount of Tony
awards which helped to remind us how loveable and brilliant Brooks can be when he's on his game. Many of the film's jokes
were originally heard in 1968, but with 40 extra minutes and a smooth reworking of some of the elements into musical numbers,
The Producers is as funny as it ever was with the highest laugh quotient of the year.
The first thing you should do if you haven't seen the stage version is to prepare yourself for a bit of separation from
what you remember about the original film (if you had seen that and shame on you if you haven't.) Most notably the first meeting
of Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane) and Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick) which as originally played by Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder
is one of the most brilliantly conceived bits of comic writing and performance in film history. Broderick can never match
up to Wilder's manic ramblings in this scene but that's more unfortunate baggage than Broderick's fault who, outside of his
introductory moments, makes Bloom his own just as he did in the stage version.
For a refresher course, the opening number registers the numerous miscalculations by Bialystock on Broadway, a notorious
flopmeister who raises his money by conning old ladies. His new accountant, the clinically fickle Bloom, thinks out loud about
how a producer can raise more dough than the play is worth thus turning a profit if it turns out to be a flop. It's a brainstorm
that Max can't resist and begins looking day and night for a play that will "close on page four".
Buried within the pile of manuscripts like a corpse in a bunker is the utterly insane, Springtime For Hitler written by
the goose-stomping Franz Liebkind (at last an OTT role custom-built to satisfy Will Ferrell's manic thespian exertions) whose
loyalty to his Fuhrer is outmatched only by Max's desire for dosh.
With the scheme coming together and more than a few musical numbers just adding laughs to already one of the funniest
films in history, the true showstopper has still yet to enter the door. That would be Ulla, or to give her the true due, Uma
Thurman. If this was 1968, Uuuma would be doing nothing but shaking her assets to the delight of Max, Leo and the audience.
(Not that there's anything wrong with that.) But Brooks, perhaps warmed over a little by the progress of the fairer sex, has
transformed the booty-quivering secretary into a beautifully dim actress who's GOT it and FLAUNTS it to the delight of Max,
Leo and the audience. Maybe Brooks hasn't grown as much as everyone else after Ulla's first song-and-dance, but it gives Thurman
precisely the role that will have voters giving her a standing ovation (sitting down or not.) With due respect to Cady Huffman
(who won a Tony in the role), Thurman is dynamic in a way we haven't seen her before combining comedic confidence with the
bombshell inspiration of classic musical beauties.
The Producers falls within the boundaries of the old classic musicals, before rock operas and gimmicky Andrew Lloyd Webber
types turned spectacle into some gaudy new age resemblance of 'art'. It's still a comedy above all else, but many of the songs
(while jokes within themselves) have a showtunes feel to them that is both a comfort and a cheese factor which may occupy
the impossible few who aren't already laughing. Those big orchestral, leg-kicking melodies are perfect for the showbiz setting
as a definition and a grand parody of the clichés of the NY theatre crowd. Numbers like Keep It Gay and I Wanna Be a Producer
are perfect warm-ups to the showstopper that is the immortal Springtime for Hitler which despite having heard it more times
than Happy Birthday gets funnier every time I hear it.
With hilarious transvestite director, Roger DeBris (Gary Beach) at the helm and his screaming queen assistant, Carmen
Ghia played by Roger Bart (look out for his astonishing "yes?" intro at DeBris' front door when Max & Leo arrive)
at his side, The Producers maintains the juvenile humour that Brooks specialises in but somehow gives you credit for laughing
at such infantile jokes such as the way Carmen greets Max & Leo or Ferrell's speech-challenged Fuhrer-lover. Any one of
these guys is prime nomination fodder and alongside Broderick would take up four of the five Oscar slots if the competition
wasn't so fierce this year.
We should be beyond having to defend The Producers' touchy sensibilities, but in an age where no one is anyone unless
they can bitch, there are still those who would have loved to lead the lynching party after the first act of the gay romp
with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgarden I'll make this very clear and only say it once. If you're one of those utterly tiresome
'political correctness' buffoons - and not laughing at The Producers, you have no sense of humour and if you're somehow offended,
you are a moron not worthy of its genius.
I was unfortunate (and I'm sure I'm not alone) to have never seen the stage version with Lane & Broderick (or any
of their replacements) so I am at a loss to compare how it played on stage. But like most Broadway/West End musicals or any
stage production, there's a theatricality that's always lost in the translation since the engulfment of the moment and your
surroundings (plus the fact that it's live) will always have that spark of spontaneity. But it's the magic of the material
which makes it great, not the night out on the town. Susan Stroman directs the film as she probably did the musical, with
just enough space to let the performers and the cinematographer breathe.
The Producers is totally fabulous entertainment - and if there's any justice, the majestic Nathan Lane will waltz off
with his Oscar in 2006.
|
