The Producers (2005) A Movie Review	MPAA Rated - PG-13 It's 2:14 Long A Review by The Dude on the Right

Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane) is a Broadway Producer, who has had his share of hits, but now has a huge flop on his hands, as well as some financial troubles. Enter Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick). He’s an accountant who wants to be a Broadway Producer. In reviewing Max’s financials, Leo realizes that if Max were to put on a huge flop, Max could actually make a ton of cash. In sharing this news with Max, well, Max, ever looking for a way to make a buck, knows that he needs Leo’s help in order to pull this off. Leo is reluctant at first, but then realizes that being a producer of a flop is much more rewarding than his job as an accountant, so Leo is in. Now it’s time to find a crap screenplay. That screenplay – "Springtime for Hitler."

So now Max and Leo are out to secure the rights to the play from the writer, who happens to be a weird bird lover named Franz (Will Ferrell). After pledging their allegiance to being nice to the history of Hitler, Max and Leo now own the screenplay, and now it’s off to find the worst director on Broadway, and they find him in Gary (Roger De Bris). Finally all of the pieces are in place, "Springtime for Hitler" opens, and yup, it’s a huge hit, much to the dismay of Max and Leo. Franz is pissed that Hitler is made fun of, Leo and Max are in trouble, and in between all of these scenes there is much singing and dancing.

This is where I had my trouble with the film, mostly with the singing and dancing, because, except for the musical portion of "Springtime for Hitler," it just doesn’t work on the big screen. I can see it working in the theater, but not on film, and for me it’s simply because of one thing – every time they were singing it just looked like they were lip-synching to the music. I also thought the movie looked too much like a taping of the Broadway musical rather than being a movie. I suppose this is hard to explain, but I guess the easiest way to put it is to take the initial scene with Max and Leo in Max’s office. The movie just had the feel that they set up a camera in the middle of the theater audience, pointed it at the stage, and let the scene roll.

I will admit that there were some scenes that I just busted a gut, but damn, that singing and dancing just kept getting in the way for me. The real winner in this film was Uma Thurman as Ulla. She had a different role than the original Ulla in the original film, but it really worked for her character and she was also smoking hot.

I see the singing and dancing working as a Broadway musical, but really, for me, it did nothing for me in the new version, when actually the movie worked better without it. In fact, the original movie was around an hour and a half, which was great, but this new version clocked in over two hours, and it felt like it. They did stick to many of the original jokes that worked in the original, and even added some nods to other Mel Brooks’ films, but damn, I’m going to say it again, it was the singing and dancing that ruined it for me. It’s 2 ½ stars out of 5 for the latest screen version of "The Producers."

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!