The Producers
Should The Producers have remained on the stage and off the screens?
The Producers Gets Reviewed
We have got two new early reviews for The Producers for you and have to admit that the sudden increase of negative reviews has us in a state of worry. Below is one positive review and one negative:
Variety
Things switch into high gear when Max and Leo recruit cross-dressing director Roger De Bris (Gary Beach) to mount the production. Roger's aide de camp is played by Roger Bart as the ultimate swish, mincing queen, pushing the old stereotype so far with his endlessly held hissed s's, rolled eyes and slinky manner that he's even more hilarious onscreen than he was onstage, stealing every scene he's in even when relegated to the background.
With hundreds of performances in New York and London under their belts, Lane and Broderick have their characterizations down cold. As the manic Max, Lane is big, broad and massively entertaining, great at belting out his songs and undone only somewhat in what onstage was his triumphant moment, the recapitulation number "Betrayed." Originally done at an even more breakneck pace, the tour de force is performed from Max's jail cell and, for maximum effect, should have been presented in one take. Instead, Stroman has cut it into bits and pieces, trying to lend it extra energy when none is needed.
Rolling Stone
Did you ever buy tickets to a big stage musical and find that your seats were in the front row, where all you could see were the seams showing and the actors straining to project? That's the feeling I had watching first-time film director Susan Stroman try to transfer the magic she brought to The Producers (still running on Broadway) from stage to screen. Not happening. Nathan Lane repeats his Tony-winning role as Max Bialystock, a producer who raises money for his shows by sleeping with old ladies. And Matthew Broderick is back as Leo Bloom, the timid accountant who tells Max he can make a fortune by producing a guaranteed flop. But their comic spontaneity has evaporated. When they buy Springtime for Hitler from a Nazi playwright (Will Ferrell, way overdoing it) and hire a cross-dresser (Gary Beach, still a howl) to direct, the flop seems in the bag. You can't kill all the laughs, not from a script by Mel Brooks, but Stroman sells Brooks' songs with the subtlety of cannon fire.
Ouch! There are other reviews popping up that seem to follow this venue; expect some of these to come our way in the next week.
The Producers comes to theatres on December 21st.
For the trailer, movie stills, clips, movie info and synopsis, go to The
Producers Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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