The Producers

Uma Thurman, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick kick their heels up in The Producers.

(Herald rating * * * )

Chicago might have won an Oscar for Best Picture (2002), but that's no reason to turn every contemporary Tony award-winning musical into a film, even if the musical was originally a movie.

Written by Mel Brooks, and starring Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel, The Producers was first released in 1968 as a film reminiscent of old-school movie musicals from the 40s, and was well received by critics and viewers alike. This 21st-century version of The Producers is based on the recent hit stage show staring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, but in coming full circle, the material feels tired.

Susan Stroman who directed the stage show has taken on the responsibility of directing the film, and has been unable to create anything more than a stage show. The actors are stuck in theatre mode with their over-acting, and their predictable slapstick humour is obvious and forced.

The film does slowly grow on you thanks to some nicely choreographed singing and dancing numbers, but even after a couple of hours the pizzazz dies, and the numbers don't come alive as you'd expect them to on the stage. The Producers has borrowed a few ideas from Chicago in recreating the performances on film, but it lacks the punch of the Chicago crew.

Lane and Broderick reprise their roles as Broadway Producer Max Bialystock and neurotic accountant turned producer Leopold Bloom who come up with a scam to stage the worst play ever, which they will over-finance so they can pocket the leftover money when the play is cancelled.

The play they decide to stage is called Springtime for Hitler, and is as bad (and funny) as it sounds.

There is no doubt Lane and Broderick know their characters. Musical lovers will find their performances polished, but it feels as if they have already done the scenes hundreds of times, and are stuck in a groove. Annoying could be one way to describe the over-the-top performances.

Thankfully, Uma Thurman, as Swedish secretary Ulla, brings the screen alive with her grace and glamour, and adds some old-world charm to the movie. Will Ferrell adds comic relief with his politically incorrect, ridiculous performance of Franz Liebkind, a Nazi sympathiser and the author of Springtime for Hitler.

The Producers is a film for musical lovers who know they might never get the chance to see the live theatre version, and lovers of old school film musicals. It's over the top, theatrical, bright and glossy, and it feels long.

Towards the end of the film Bialystock does a number summarising the musical's story in about five minutes, and you do wonder how they managed to drag it out to two-and-a-quarter hours.

CAST: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell, Gary Beach
DIRECTOR: Susan Stroman
RUNNING TIME: 134 mins
RATING: M, contains sexual references
SCREENING: Village, Hoyts and Berkeley cinemas