The Producers

There is a scene in The Producers in which the title characters, who had hoped to produce a bomb in order to keep the investors' money, discover that their production is actually a hit. Unfortunately, the producers of the film version of the Broadway musical version of the 1968 movie version of The Producers are likely to have the opposite reaction when they read today's reviews: their sure-bet hit, many critics are suggesting, is likely to be a flop. A.O. Scott in the New York Times comments that the film version may in fact expose the fact that Broadway musicals now represent the lowest common denominator: theme park attractions for tourists and that the screen version of The Producers actually exposes the real essence of the Broadway musical: its vulgarity, its cynicism, its utter lack of taste, charm or wit. Joe Morgenstern writes similarly in the Wall Street Journal that the movie is a head-bangingly primitive version of an overrated Broadway show that grew out of a clumsy 1968 movie with an inflated reputation. Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News, who calls the movie less an adaptation than a gigantic blowup, concludes that it's nearly unbearable. Likewise, Michael Phillips remarks in the Chicago Tribune that the movie does not work. It is not very funny. It doesn't look right. It's depressing. Peter Howell in the Toronto Star puts his finger on the problem this way: The voyage from Broadway to Hollywood has been accomplished without heed to the essential differences between the stage and the screen. The former requires volume and projection; the latter needs modulation and nuance. In a film, it is not necessary to holler every line as if you are attempting to reach the back row of the St. James. Nor is it kosher to make facial gestures that could be read by an orbiting spy satellite. And yet that's exactly what everyone in this egregiously over-amped production does. The movie is a textbook example of why the stage is a very different medium from cinema. Not all of the critics disapprove. Bob Strauss in the Los Angeles Daily News, acknowledges that is presented like it's still taking place on a live theater stage. ... But anyone who can let themselves be had by Max Bialystock and his mad band of extreme caricatures is in for a pretty good time. And Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times suggests that his main difficulty in reviewing the movie is his memories of the original, which he regards as one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. He concludes If I had fun, most other viewers are likely to have more fun, because they won't have my baggage.