Genres:
Comedy
Musical
Theatrical Release: 12/16/2005(USA
Release Date: 01/01/2001
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time:
Flags: Adult Situations, Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: MCA Home Video
After transforming his first motion picture into a smash Broadway
musical,
Mel Brooks brings the story of two would-be theatrical moguls turned con men back to the screen in this
musical comedy.
Max Bialystock (
Nathan Lane) was once one of Broadway's most successful producers, but a string of flops has thrown his career into a tailspin, and now he struggles to raise the cash to stage new shows by playing gigolo to lonely old ladies. While going over his books, accountant
Leo Bloom (
Matthew Broderick) notices that
Bialystock raised more money than he spent for one show, and points out that if one raised enough money for a show that closed in one night, you could make more off a flop than a hit. This strikes
Bialystock as a brilliant scheme, and he decides to give it a try, persuading
Bloom to join him in staging the world's greatest flop. After discovering a truly vile script -- "Springtime for Hitler," a
musical set in the Third Reich written by neo-Nazi pigeon fancier
Franz Liebkind (
Will Ferrell) -- and giving a key role to the secretary
Ulla (
Uma Thurman), a drop-dead gorgeous blonde with only a tenuous understanding of the English language,
Bialystock and
Bloom are certain they have the disaster they need for their plan to work. But the scheme unexpectedly goes wrong when "Springtime for Hitler" becomes a "so bad it's good" hit.
Mel Brooks co-wrote the screenplay for
The Producers as well as producing it, but directorial chores were handed over to
Susan Stroman, who also directed the Broadway show;
Nathan Lane and
Matthew Broderick also repeated their roles from the Broadway production. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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