Springtime For Mel Brooks

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2009)

For Mel Brooks, The Producers is the gift that keeps on giving. The film, the Broadway musical based on the film, the second film based on the Broadway musical...maybe you can make more money with a flop than with a hit but I'm sure Brooks has done just fine for himself with The Producers. And this is certainly no flop.
A plot summary seems rather unnecessary as most everyone should be familiar with the story. And the story is really secondary anyway, there really only to set up a succession of jokes, sight gags and one outrageously funny, utterly brilliant musical number. The film is not always uproariously funny. For much of its running time it inspires mild chuckles rather than gut-busting laughs. It's a movie that certainly has its moments but it is not consistently hilarious. But just when you think this might be just another reasonably amusing comedy it happens. "Springtime for Hitler." The musical number so perfect, so outrageous, so impossibly funny that it elevates the movie as a whole. In this moment everything comes together and the comic payoff is priceless.
Some of the jokes and gags do fall a little flat but overall the film always manages to be entertaining. The cast is terrific. If it is true that opposites attract Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder could not be any more perfect in their roles as Max and Leo, the producers themselves. The bombastic Mostel and jittery Wilder play off one another brilliantly. They are the two central characters but they are surrounded by a terrific ensemble which really brings the lunacy of Mel Brooks to life. Kenneth Mars as a deranged Nazi playwright, Christopher Hewett as a ludicrously flamboyant Broadway director and Dick Shawn as a hippie Hitler are among the standouts. And while her screen time is minimal Lee Meredith is an absolute treat in the role of Ulla, Max's Swedish receptionist. Ulla may not be much of a receptionist but she sure is fun to watch. In the end The Producers is a real treat. Other movies may be more consistently funny but this one is certainly funny enough. And it has that one transcendent moment which is simply as good as film comedy gets. Well done Mel Brooks. Turns out you can make plenty of money with a hit.