Jvbway Review of The Producers

The Producers (2005)

A recording of the stage version would have been better

[5/10 · 19 January 2006]

"The Producers" is one of the first film versions of the recent musicals based on a popular film. Because of that, the piece would have lent itself to film very easily, but this film did not succeed in translating from stage to screen. Director/Choreographer Susan Stroman has taken most of the blame for that, and most of that is justified. The film is virtually identical to the stage version in physical appearance,giving the whole film a stagey, artificial atmosphere. What's more, the performances seem to be playing to the back row, making them seem over the top. Nathan Lane does the best of the actors recreating their stage roles. Matthew Broderick, on the other hand, seems to be impersonating Gene Wilder, who played his role in the basis film. Gary Beach and Roger Bart are both fairly over the top in their stage roles. New to the film are Will Ferrell, amusing but over the top as the Nazi playwright Franz Leipkind, and Uma Thurman, who is sadly something of an embarrassment, neither a singer nor a dancer and lacking in the warmth that Cady Huffman brought to the role on stage. Since the film is so similar to the stage version, it seems to me that it would have made more sense to have filmed the stage version and broadcast it either on PBS or HBO, where it would have seemed more lively and less artificial