NY Post's THE PRODUCERS "review"

Okay, this is HILARIOUS.

These are excerpts, of course - and largely echo what I felt about the original show.

sung to the tune of Comedy Tonight:

There's Nathan Lane,
Why he so lame?
Hey, Susan Stroman, you get the blame


She's the director
You'll disrespect her
Notion that cinema's like stage
Please move that camera
Try to earn your wage!


Matthew's a robot
Uma's a sexpot
Pratfalling everywhere
With all of their might!

...

Will Ferrell's Nazi
Isn't so hotsy
But he beats the swishy, mincing gays!
Camping it so queerly
Redefining trite


Staging that's static
Jokes from the attic
(Of) Borscht belt comedians
A masterpiece! (Yeah, right)

...

Broadway's forgiving
(Of) gags that aren't living
Theater's so phony that
Your fancy takes flight.


Here's news that's grim:
This one's so meek
Screen musicals get canceled next week.
After "Chicago"
There was a warm glow
Now it's all over, say goodnight!


"Sweeney Todd" and "Les Miz,"
(in) turnaround, that's showbiz!
"Mamma Mia" so dead,
Couldn't get arrested
"Guys and Dolls"
Will take the fall
In 3-1-0
Because this blows
It tanks, it's rank
Sinks, stinks -
Slapstick so thick the hicks won't stick.


From bad to worse

...

From bad to worse
Even in verse
"The Producers" moves like a hearse
Mildness and blandness
Mugging like madness
Who knew that "Rent" would win this fight?
Murdering a genre's just not all right!

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Hahaha!!

Not many, judging by that.

And while I don't wish to suddenly appear like a Munk suck-up, I wasn't a fan of the stage show either. I saw it when it first opened in London and it just seemed so....desperate.

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Never seen the show, but I don't like the cast recording, minus a few songs. But, I will still go and see the movie.

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If you look around, you will see that both movies got mixed reviews. Some were great and some were awful in both cases.

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This was one of the cleverest reviews I have ever read

Definitely will wait for cable to see this . They wonder why people are staying away from the movies in droves. $ 12.50 for a movie & one that is getting panned. I think not

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This is what comes of trying to make it too much like the stage show.

I think Susan approached it like her idols Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen did as musical directors of film. They would often lock the camera squarely centered and do long takes of dancers in full body.

These are Susan's idols. She has said so many times. I think she was honoring them with her "old fashioned" film musical approach.

Problem is it's not 1952 anymore... and the audiences aren't "getting" what she's attempting to do.

EDIT: Entertainment Weekly gave it a C. And if you read the review, it sounds worse than a C, actually.

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Updated On: 12/16/05 at 07:33 PM

I have to say that, regardless of how 'forbidden broadway' this critic wanted to be...don't you think he might have actually bothered to WRITE A REVIEW instead of presenting this parody. It may be funny, but it isn't all that professional.

I also find it interesting that Dale (of BWW) seems to be one of the only critics that GETS what Brooks and Stroman were trying to do. Does no one else remember old musicals or recognize that Brooks has spent his life doing borscht belt comedy and broad, corny humor? Did we think this was going to be Moulin Rouge for God's sake?

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I saw this tonight after Brokeback Mountain and thought it was pretty good. It had some very noticeable flaws - certain scenes seemed to last forever and the theatrical staging (particularly for Opening Night) sometimes bored me so much that I had to fight to stay awake - but I laughed a lot, really enjoyed the performances (esp. Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane and even Will Ferrell) and thought that even though the director is apparently afraid to move the camera, she had some better ideas for staging musical numbers than Chris Columbus did for Rent. My favorite number? Easily the "Unhappy" cutting to "I Want to Be a Producer" and then back. Least favorite? Toss-up between "When You've Got It, Flaunt It" (started dozing off) and "Keep It Gay." (hated that on stage, wasn't all that amused by it here either)

This can't be the death of the movie musical. It isn't awful. Too long for a musical comedy, yes.... but still a "good" movie in my opinion. There were nine walkouts (all male - six people together and three more alone) and the huge downtown Chicago theater was embarrassingly empty for an evening show. I guess everyone was down the street watching The Family Stone, which I couldn't get into tonight. Brokeback Mountain and Memoirs of a Geisha also came out here today, so that (amongst other things) could explain the apparent lack of immediate interest in The Producers here.