Overrated, It Takes Far Too Long To Get Going

Rating: 4/10 (9 July 2008)

The Producers, starring Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel is about a broken down Hollywood producer, (Mostel) so desperate for money that he hires his accountant (Wilder) to come up with a crocked scheme. Create and produce a sure-miss Broadway flop, get the most gullible people to invest in the scheme, and than keep the money all for themselves without paying any money to their investors of the project. What they don't count on, is that the play they produce, "Springtime for Hitler" becomes a shocking Broadway hit. What can they do, if anything to avoid jail? When I saw this movie some years ago for some reason, I remembered it being good. I just watched it again for this review and found it weak. Director Mel Brooks may have intended The Producers to be a laugh-filled riot movie. However, the film is flawed in many ways, which prevent it from achieving classic status. For one thing, there are annoying pauses in the opening credits of the film, where a bunch of jokes are told that are supposed to set the tone of the film. They are not funny at all. The movie than drags on to Wilder and Mostel making jokes about their mundane lives that once again fall flat.
Even the preparation in finding people for the play is drawn out. The screen testing for "Hitler" drags on, made even worse by of all things, a song that appears to be tacked on to the film to kill time. The Nazi jokes aren't even funny.
The best part of the film is the song "Springtime For Hitler." It FINALLY gets the viewer into actually seeing the play. The ending number "We're Prisoners of Love" is well done. But it is a L-O-N-G struggle and strain on the viewer to get to those parts in the movie. You have to wait for over an hour of an only ninety minute movie for those scenes. These songs save The Producers from being a complete dud. However, they occur too late to salvage my overall impression of the film.