The Producers was probably one of the most hilarious films I have ever seen. Even if most of the comedy relied heavily upon the characters' abilities to just be plain idiots, at least they did it well. The whole movie felt like a play from start to finish - it could even have been filmed on stage. It was expertly choreographed and made and gave us some great musical numbers - all with dashes of humour and style. However, I do feel that the "Keep it gay..." number was a bit too long and extravagant, and the character of Leo Bloom was not very exciting. The movie just became too silly at times to bear - it started off quite funny, but after a while became hard to watch. And I don't care if Bloom managed to score with Ulla - his reunion with Bialystock in the court was dripping with homo-erotic tension. Maybe these issues are a little too taboo to discuss on IMDb, but I'm sure this has been said in another review of this film. And for good reason. There's no denying that I enjoyed The Producers - anyone who thinks it is boring and uninspired should be shot, even if they haven't seen it. The film itself is rather bad taste, so we can excuse all the Nazi propaganda and... those areas. The acting was great - not a dull performance was delivered, and the cast were truly an inspired bunch who brought this classic play to the screen with added flair. But I love realism in films, and lights suddenly appearing in prison cells and scantily-clad ladies jumping out of cupboards in the most boring accounting centre on Earth ensure that this film is really just far-fetched nonsense. But hilarious far-fetched nonsense, and far-fetched nonsense that I REALLY enjoyed. I might buy it - I don't know. I'm seeing the actual stage play soon, and having seen this film, I have a good idea of what it will be like. This film is quite a good taster for those who haven't seen the actual stage play, with the rather theatre-style cinematography, music, dances and acting. But I don't think this film did too well at the box office, for the simple reason that some things just lose a bit of their essence in the translation from stage to cinema, no matter how good you think the translation might be... 8/10
Review of The Producers
