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THE PRODUCERS

REVIEWED BY SHANNON H.

Our rating: 1 out of 5

Because of: language, sexual content

Rated:

Mel Brooks' brainchild The Producers made it onto Broadway in 2001. Prior to that, it was a 1968 movie of the same name. Now, it is back on the big screen featuring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the same title roles as their Broadway musical. It is both funny and vulgar and lots of musical numbers and new faces to the musical (Uma Thurman is given a role in the film; she was not originally in the Broadway musical).

Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane) is a hot-shot Broadway producer. His latest Broadway "run" is Shakespeare's Hamlet as a musical but, unfortunately, it flopped. A shy, reserved, and neurotic accountant, Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick) arrives at Max's office to look at his bookkeeping. After adding the figures, Leo realizes Max made an error on the finances from his last show, which puts him at a loss for $2 million dollars (he had raised more money from the musical than he spent on it). Leo then subconsciously suggests that Max would make more money with a flop. If he did, he could pocket the surplus after the show closes on opening night and head out of the country to Rio with the $2 million. Max is thrilled at the idea and tries to convince Leo to join him in his scheme (Leo was a fan of Max's work and wanted to be a Broadway producer himself) but he couldn't bring himself to do something illegal.

After realizing how tedious and boring his day job was, Leo changes his mind and decides to join Max in making the worst musical ever. The first thing they do is read script after script after script until they find the worst one out of the bunch. The play they find is titled Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berechtesgaden. Both Max and Leo figured that the audience would probably walk out once the musical number began so they go find the author of the play, which turns out to be a Nazi Party wannabe named Franz Liebkind (Will Ferrell). After Franz forces them to do a silly dance and an even sillier "pledge," he agrees to sign the contract to the play. Now, Max and Leo must find the world's worst director so they turn to the flamboyantly gay Roger De Bris (Gary Beach) and his partner, Carmen (Roger Bart) and their "gay production team." They also find their leading lady, a Swedish showgirl named Ulla (Uma Thurman) who steals their hearts. The show opens as planned and already into the second musical number, audience members start to walk out, complaining that the musical was in bad taste but are slowly drawn back in by Roger De Bris' last-minute appearance as Hitler (Franz was supposed to play the part of Hitler but he broke his leg), which made the show funnier. To Max and Leo's surprise, Springtime for Hitler turns out to be a smashing success and they realize that they must think of something before they are hauled off to jail.

There are some assorted cuss words in The Producers. There are three uses of a**, a few abuses of deity, one use of d***, three uses of s*** (two of them are in German and yes, I do know the German translation for the s-word), and five uses of h***. Max and Leo flip off the camera while taking a pledge with Franz (they were supposed to be raising their index fingers). There are several sexual references in the film that it's hard to name every one of them. It's implied several times that Max sleeps with elderly women for money in order to help finance his musicals. There are a lot of homosexual references and an entire song dedicated to keeping a musical "gay." It's implied that Roger and Carmen (the effeminate one) are in a partnership. Roger is seen in a dress going to a costume/dress contest. Ulla, the Swedish actress, dresses in not-so-modest clothing (in fact, all the showgirls in the movie dress in next to nothing) and she manages to seduce Leo and there is an implication that they have had sex. There are also references to sexual excitement in men. When Ulla explains to Max and Leo how she starts her day, she notes that she likes to have sex at 11 am and then asks when she should show up for work; of course, the guys say 11 am.

There isn't any redeeming value in this movie-musical. The reason why I wanted to see it was because I never saw it on Broadway (I hope to in the future). Max and Leo do not feel any remorse for what they did and aren't punished severely for their crimes. As mentioned previously, there is a lot of homosexual related humor. Ulla is the proverbial sex kitten, flaunting her body in front of men and seducing Leo and Max. In the Bible, it says that we are not to associate with swindlers and those of low morals. However, in the film, Max refers to God as "an old friend" of his. I liked the film to some extent. I laughed at some of the dirty jokes but I wasn't pleased with the homosexual humor and the fact that Uma Thurman was dancing and singing wearing tight-fitting dresses and other revealing clothes. At first, I was offended that someone, even a fictional character, would dedicate a musical to an evil dictator, but I realized that the characters making the film (with the exception of Franz) felt my sentiment. In fact, Franz keeps pigeons and names them German names and even named one pigeon Adolf (the bird would stand at attention with his right wing in salute). What I find factually wrong with The Producers is a bit of a historical footnote. In the movie, they state that Adolf Hitler was German when in fact, Hitler is from Austria (same language, different accent). There is one tiny detail that really impressed me was that Leo held out on sex until he married Ulla, but is criticized for it. It's better that this film be avoided and viewers should consider saving their money to see the musical in New York instead.