Mel Brooks is one of my favorite comic writers & directors. BLAZING SADDLES, YOUNG FRAKENSTEIN, the misunderstood SILENT MOVIE, SPACEBALLS, etc.
His THE PRODUCERS was his memorable 1968 directorial debut that landed him an Oscar victory for Best Original Screenplay, and really was a humorous comedy that, in its time, was the SOUTH PARK of its day. Teasefully risque, but smart.
Brooks resurrected THE PRODUCERS as an insanely successfull and popular Broadway musical with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane that briefly made Americans care about Broadway plays. Thankfully, it was short-lived. CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM established its Fourth Season around it. It won a truckload of Tonys, made millions, and a movie-adaptation was inevitable. (A movie based on a musical that itself was based on a movie)
Yet something about this movie is stagnant once the credits open. Why?
Theories abound, all correct in varying degrees. A musical designed for a live audience that then is played for a filmed set loses its charismatic magic. The SOUTH PARK-esque humor from the past now seems to be quite tame and nothing offensive about it. Maybe its that a movie, transformed into a musical designed for a stage, just doesn't seem to translate as well on a small screen.
My own hypothesis is that I blame the director. Susan Stroman helmed the original play, but seems to be as moving and fluid cinematically as a Polaroid camera.
While the movie never gets into a satisfying rhythmn, there is some nice things about THE PRODUCERS remake. Nathan Lane seems to always give it his best, and like MOUSE HUNT, he sometimes is forced to make a movie better than it should be.
But Will Ferrell. Wow, I tell ya folks, hes the best comic player that never got to be involved directly with a Mel Brooks movie. While he's been coasting with success from ANCHORMAN and TALLADEGA NIGHTS(really, both movies have the same basic premise), hes not been given his chance to be as fully dangerous on a physical level as his best work from SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE displayed.
Yet for an average movie, Will Ferrell owns the screen whenever he appears, and rather is great.
