The Producers

UMA THURMAN as Ulla performs “When You Got It, Flaunt It” for NATHAN LANE
as Max Bialystock and MATTHEW BRODERICK as Leo Bloom in “The Producers,”
the movie musical version of Mel Brooks’ Broadway hit.
Photo Credit: Andrew Schwartz. Copyright: © 2005 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

I’ve said it before, but for those who haven’t read my reviews previously, I’ll preface this one by stating I generally dislike film musicals. That being said, “The Producers” is, I think, reasonably entertaining.

From the very beginning, the movie establishes that it’s a musical, as the audience of a Broadway show exits the theater singing a number extolling just how terrible Max Bialystock’s (Nathan Lane) shows are… and that got me thinking about “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” Every film Mel Brooks has directed or written has hinted at a musical, but never fully realized itself as one.

Back at his office, across the street from Sardi’s restaurant in New York’s Theater District, Bialystock attempts to gather himself as one of his benefactors shows up for some of her… er, dividends. Bialystock literally whores himself out to acquire backers for his plays. He has a cabinet filled with their photographs, and nicknames for each one, e.g. “Hold Me, Kiss Me”, “Suck Me…” nevermind. Making out a check, one backer says, “Cash? Funny name for a play, Cash…”

An accountant, Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick), arrives at Bialystock’s office. He notes $2000 has gone unaccounted and is trying to resolve the matter. Bialystock says he couldn’t possibly have any money to hide from the IRS, “Look at me, now. I’m wearing a cardboard belt!”

Bloom discovers that the discrepancy arose from a greater sum being taken in from the backers than the play actually made. He gets creative and devises a way to hide the leftover cash. It then dawns on him that Bialystock could make more money producing a flop, by having the backers pull in tons of cash more than was needed.

Bloom is the kind of nervous, twitchy guy who wouldn’t easily depart his comfort zone to jump headlong into something. He’s also the kind of guy who goes around with a blue blankie in his pocket, which he rubs to keep himself calm. No, there’s no Great Pumpkin involved… but, as Bialystock observes, persuading Bloom to quit second-guessing and go through with the scam, “Don’t you realize… there’s more to you than there is to you?”

Eventually, Leo does fully acknowledge his dream to be a producer, and quits his job working as a public accountant for Mr. Marks, played by Jon Lovitz. It’s unfortunate that the caricaturesque Lovitz didn’t have a larger role. His melodramatic flair is perfectly suited for a musical.

Now all they need is a terrible script. Enter Franz Liebkind (Will Ferrell), clearly a Nazi sympathizer, but in the tradition of “The Great Dictator,” “To Be or Not to Be” and the like, Brooks relies on Ferrell’s mastery of the absurd to lampoon Nazis—to hilarious effect. Liebkind translates in German to “dear child,” and Ferrell’s “goose-stepping moron”—to borrow a favorite phrase from Sean Connery in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”—is precisely that. He’s willing to let them have the rights to the script, provided they will swear allegiance to his values… and sing along to his favorite song, of course.

Franz, I should mention, has a fondness for carrier pigeons—particularly a white one he’s affectionately named Adolf. He insists to Bialystock and Bloom he’s not and never has been associated with the Nazi party, “I lived in the back… Next to Switzerland.”

IMDB notes that all the actors, except for Uma Thurman and Will Ferrell, performed the same characters in the original Broadway run… and that’s exactly what it feels like. It may be both good and bad. I felt as if Broderick and Lane were merely going through the motions in numerous scenes. On the other hand, Gary Beach as the cross-dressing Roger de Bris—looking and behaving like Ronald Reagan in drag—fantastically livens up the second and third acts.

The gay jokes are a bit overdone, but then I don’t know… this is a musical. Overdone is the appropriate setting, I guess. It doesn’t work for me, but it must work for someone.

I shouldn’t forget to mention Uma Thurman as Ulla, the statuesque Swedish temptress who puts on a rather persuasive pitch to get into a play that hasn’t yet a part for her. Thurman’s performance is comical, but I think the real delight is in her body language. Let’s face it, that’s the point of Ulla… and her performance serves that point exceedingly well. She makes her point emphatically in a song that advertises, “if you got it, flaunt it.” The producers, awed by her beauty, will create a role (or two) for her if they have to.

The lyrics to the songs reflect much of the same obvious innuendo for which, Brooks, the writer and producer has become quite well known… but some of the actors, especially Ferrell and Beach, handle it with such enthusiasm and freshness, that just watching them work is a delight.

Of course most of you know that the obvious twist (spoiler ahead in case you didn’t know): Thanks largely to Roger, the play is a success as it’s received as a great satire of Hitler. “Where did we go right?” wonders Bialystock. This would be wonderful news, if they hadn’t bet the farm against it. Bialystock exclaims, “Somebody else’s life is flashing before my eyes!”

There’s more, which I don’t want to spoil… but it culminates in much the same fashion as any number of harebrained schemes. There’s no elaborate development or conclusion to it all… it’s just good entertainment, and that’s all it hopes to be. In that regard, it works.

Not everyone is going to appreciate this film. Obviously, fans of the Broadway show will be interested at least to see how it looks and feels on film. People less inclined toward musicals might have a hard time with its decidedly Rodgers & Hammerstein overtones. I found enough likeable aspects in it to keep me preoccupied from dwelling on the parts less interesting to me, and that’s how I suspect the average moviegoer will view it… nothing great, but worth seeing for Bialystock & Bloom’s slapstick, Ulla’s sexpot antics, Liebkind’s hilarious eccentricity, de Bris’ goggle-eyed impression Reagan-in-drag, a procession of walker-clad ladies that would make Fellini proud, or, perhaps, leggy, female stormtroopers?

It makes you ponder the possibilities… How about a musical sequel to “Spaceballs” to help us forget how awful the “Star Wars” prequels were?

The Producers • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 • Running Time: 134 minutes • MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual humor and references. • Distributed by Universal Pictures