movies: the producers

You know, I actually can't remember the last time I laughed so much, and for so long as I did tonight... we went to see The Producers and damn it was funny!

I don't always find Mel Brooks humour that funny... sometimes he's good, sometimes he labours the point a little too much. But The Producers, was just funny enough in all the right places and in all the right ways... yes, it's definitely farce and a little slapstick, but it's also really FUNNY! Ma was worse than me... she's never one to laugh quietly, and there was more than one occasion where I was sure everyone in the cinema could hear her... *rolls eyes*... Mothers... whatchugunnado?!

Anyway, I love Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick (Matthew especially, all the way back to the days of both Ferris Bueller and Torch Song Trilogy) and although there was a large amount of them chewing of the scenery in a BIG way (but both in very different ways, which helped), it was well done, and just fitted the feel of the movie.

I can see why it probably offended a whole lot of people back when it originally came out, but I didn't have a problem with any of it, from the over the top queens (including a bare-chested, non-speaking cameo by my favourite Queer Eye, Jai Rodriguez) to the whole Springtime for Hitler thing (on that note, I was also amused by the fact that the "perfect Aryan Stormtrooper" we see at the beginning of the musical within the musical was actually played by John Barrowman, a openly gay man.. whether that was intentional or not, I don't know... but I liked it)... like I said, the whole thing was extreme farce, and very much taking the mickey out of itself.

Having said all that, I've never seen the original movie, or the play, so, who knows, maybe those are better... but I very, very, very much enjoyed my first exposure to The Producers... and this is another one that will definitely have to find it's way into my DVD collection.

yani's rating: 4 goose-stepping chorus boys out of 5