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| Monday, December 19, 2005 |
Producers doesn't produce
For more than a year, I've waited with baited breath and heightened anticipation for The Producers, a film about a musical based on a musical about a film about a musical. Since I never had the opportunity to catch the craze of Mel Brooks' Broadway production on the Great White Way, I was looking forward to the day when I could finally get a glimpse at what all the fuss was about.
Unfortunately the new film, already attracting the expected end-of-the-year award buzz, just didn't do it for me and here's why:
For starters, comedy musicals in 2005 have to be something special, something above the fray for them to work with a modern day audience. Broad slapstick style humor, Mel Brooks' stock and trade, works with the borscht belt generation but for the next generation it needs something more. On this level, the film doesn't deliver. To today's audiences, grand gestures, overacting, and scene eating seem passe when not done in an ironic fashion.
Secondly, what makes the film seem "outdated" is its overzealous use of gay humor. Had this been the original 1968 film, it would be funny. But viewed in the context of today's vast comedic landscape -- which encompasses the much funnier narcissistic humor of shows like Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and even (to a lesser extent) of NBC's breakout hits My Name is Earl and The Office -- the homosexual jokes fall flat. Gay humor is old hat (we've been enjoying Will & Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy for years -- indeed Queer Eye's Jai "Culture Guy" Rodriguez makes a brief cameo in the film). And now even gay dramas (Brokeback Mountain) are garnering critical acclaim. So to use this brand of humor seems ignorant at best.
Thirdly, the film looks like a stage production. Unlike the 2002 film adaptation of the musical Chicago, which had inventive cinematography, strong edits, and lavish dance numbers, The Producers looks bland. It's no wonder, considering the film is directed by Susan Stroman whose experience is mostly of the Broadway stage variety. As A.O. Scott of The New York Times correctly points out, "no effort has been made to adjust the show to the scale of the movie screen."
Perhaps the film's one saving grace is Will Ferrell's hilarious portrayal of the neo-Nazi loving screenwriter Franz Liebkind. He deserves his recent Golden Globe nomination for the role. His Saturday Night Live breeding, best explored in film's like Old School and Anchorman, are much more relatable to today's audiences. It's a shame we can't say that for the rest of the film.
Read our profile of Mel Brooks here.
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