THE PRODUCERS

cast :: matthew broderick, nathan lane, uma thurman...
writer :: mel brooks...
director :: susan stroman



review date :: 01/14/06
written by :: clarkey
rating :: n/a

THE REVIEW_________________

Another year in Hollywood, another year with more remakes than the year before. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind remakes, as long as they’re good (i.e. The Manchurian Candidate, King Kong and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). But where has the originality gone? Normally, I don’t go to reamke unless I want to see it and I was actually looking forward to seeing this movie because the original is one of the best comedies ever made.

Having said that, I finally got around to seeing it and it was a good movie. A great remake, which is almost word for word to original, but with a fresh looking update. With that being said, it is more like the broadway show, and not so much like the original movie. There are many more songs than the original. The original only had a select few, unlike the remake, which was essentially completely a musical. I don’t normally like musicals, (with Singin’ in the Rain and The Wizard of Oz being the main exceptions), but I really enjoyed myself throughout the film.

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick were great as Bialystock and Bloom respectively. However, no living soul can every replace the comedic brilliance of Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. Lane and Broderick are fun to watch, but they just don’t do it for me, personally and most of their physically is good for merely a chuckle at least. Will Ferrell was great as Franz Liebkind, the Nazi playwrite, and I though that he was better than Kenneth Mars. But, at some times, Ferrell looks like he’s trying to hard to get a quick laugh. Finally, need I mention Uma Thurman as Ulla, the hot secretary/actress, who was great as usual. And her first scene is great and the song she sings is one of my favourite new songs that was added to show. The rest of the cast are pretty solid in their roles.

The film looks great and kudos go to John Bailey and Charles Minsky for their cinematography work and the art director, Peter Rogness, who made some sweet looking sets. And I must send some credit to Susan Stroman, who directed greatly in her first big screen project. There was absolutely no script for this movie, just the one from the broadway play, which was written by the legendary Mel Brooks. That just goes to show you how much singing is in this movie. A small problem I had with this was the ending. They should’ve keep the ending from the original, it was a much better. Instead they wanted another song and dance, which was good, but really not necessary.

But overall, the movie was a fun movie with fun performance from the four big stars. It looks great and you can’t help but to have a smile on your face for the majority of the movie. However, this movie has to be your cup of tea. If you don’t like musicals or a lot of singing and dancing, then you shouldn’t see this movie. But if you normally like stuff like that, then you probably will like it.