The Producers (Widescreen Edition)

The Producers (Widescreen Edition)
by Susan Stroman

The Producers (Widescreen Edition)
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Category: DVD
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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Gary Beach, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell
Director: Susan Stroman
Brand: BRODERICK,MATTHEW
Cinematographer: Charles Minsky
Producer: Amy Herman
Producer: Jonathan Sanger
Producer: Leah Zappy
Producer: Mel Brooks
Writer: Mel Brooks
Writer: Thomas Meehan
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 134 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-16
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios

Movie Reviews of The Producers (Widescreen Edition)

Movie Review: I didn't want to like this film....
Summary: 5 Stars

...because the original Zero Mostel/Gene Wilder version was so great. I really thought this version would be a let down.

But after around 5 minutes of watching it, it became apparent that this wasn't a remake of the classic masterpiece. It was an entirely new film based on the same general script. And I was shocked to find that in a few ways, this version was better than the original. This really isn't a remake of the film, it's a film version of the Broadway musical.

First of all, the movie really is funny. And it was well acted too, despite the fact that the cast wasn't as good as the 1968 cast. But Nathan Lane, Mathew Broderick, Will Ferrell and Uma Thurman were still very good. It just may be that Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder were hard to top, or once you saw that version first, anyone else wouldn't compare to them.

The dance numbers were excellent. I'm really not a fan of musicals, but this one was good. The production was extremely well done, and it moved well enough that I didn't even realize it was a two hour film!

The bottom line is that the 1968 version was a comedy classic. Perhaps Mel Brookes very best comedy film. But this new version is also a very, very funny film, but it's a different film. This is really a musical comedy with elaborate singing and dancing. And I felt it was carried off beautifully.

I think the people who hated this movie made the mistake of comparing it directly with the classic 1968 version, and naturally they found it lacking. I think you have to judge this as a separate film. And when you do that, it's quite a good musical comedy.

I didn't want to like this movie, but I ended up loving it.

Summary of The Producers (Widescreen Edition)

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick return to their award-winning roles in the hilariously funny film of the record-breaking Broadway smash-hit. Scheming producer Max Bialystock (Lane) and his mousy accountant, Leo Bloom (Broderick), discover that under the right circumstances they could make more money by producing a Broadway flop than they can with a hit. But what will they do when their sure-to-offend musical becomes a surprise sensation? Co-starring sexy Uma Thurman and comedy genius Will Ferrell, The Producers is a fun-filled, side-splitting comedy.
The trend is to convert movies into stage musicals, but The Producers goes a step further: making a feature film of the smash-hit stage musical that was adapted from the 1968 film. The chief drawing card, of course, is Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprising their roles from the stage. Lane plays Max Bialystock, a legendary Broadway producer who hasn't had a hit show in a long time. Enter nebbish accountant Leo Bloom (Broderick), who tells Bialystock he could actually make more money with a flop than a hit. So the two set out to produce the worst Broadway musical of all time, one guaranteed to close on opening night, with the collaboration of an outrageous cast of characters: Will Ferrell as sieg heil-ing author Franz Liebkind, Uma Thurman as Swedish bombshell Ulla, Gary Beach as director Roger De Bris, and Roger Bart as his assistant, Carmen Ghia, among others.

As directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman (who did the same honors on Broadway) and co-written by Mel Brooks, The Producers is laugh-out-loud funny. It's also a relentlessly over-the-top, shamelessly bawdy, stereotype-ridden comedy that may turn off its audience just as much as its centerpiece, Springtime for Hitler, was intended to. But Broadway fans who are used to larger-than-life figures who play to the back row while showering the first row with spit, are likely to forgive and just enjoy the famous granny-walker dance, a supporting cast dotted with Broadway performers (playing a taxi driver is Brad Oscar, who originated the role of Liebkind on Broadway then later played Bialystock), or the mere spectacle of seeing Lane and Broderick memorializing the performances that millions never got a ticket to see. (For maximum laughs, stick around through the closing credits.) --David Horiuchi

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