Mel Brooks is bringing The Producers, one of the most honored musicals in the history of the American theater, to the motion picture screen as a sparkling, feature-length musical comedy. The record-breaking Tony Award-winning hit (based on Mel Brooks' seminal 1968 motion picture comedy) received 15 nominations and won a record-breaking 12 awards, including Best Musical, Best Director and Choreographer, and Best Actor.

Two-time Tony Award winners Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick return to their celebrated roles as Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, a scheming theatrical producer and his mousy CPA who hit upon the perfect plan to embezzle a fortune: raise far more money than you need to produce a sure-fire Broadway flop and then (since no one will expect anything back), Max and Leo can pocket the difference. To do this, they need the ultimate bad play, which they find in the musical Springtime for Hitler. Their plans come to naught and the duo are taken completely by surprise when their new production is hailed as a toast-of-the-town hit. Will Ferrell also brings his spot-on comic talents to the role of Franz Liebkind, the neo-Nazi playwright (and pigeon fancier) responsible for penning the "worst play ever written."

MOVIE REVIEW

The Producers is a film that tries to go the extra mile yet comes up a bit short. Every musical number and every joke is big, over the top and I guess that's how it's supposed to be because the play I'm sure is very much the same. And that is where the problem lies. The movie attempts to duplicate the same physical comedy found in the play, one of the most successful Broadway plays ever. However, what works on stage does not necessarily work on screen. Every sequence of this film is clever, even likeable, but the flare and humor found on the stage just does not come through. I laughed in a few parts, but it was the kind of laugh that people give when something is on the fringe of being funny, almost a gentle nudge saying ‘that's almost funny enough, just go a little further.' Unfortunately, most of the times it doesn't.
Read our Producers, The movie review »