You kind of know what you are going to get with The Producers. Well of course you do, its a remake of a remake – staring most of the original cast of the remake. The only new additions are Uma Thurman’s Ulla and Will Ferrell’s Leibkind. Ferrell eats the role up looking for more (and they give him it), Thurman is better than expected without actually being able to belt her big number as well as she should. So whilst this was never going to be a groundbreaking cinematic event, at least it should be a good representation of the US stage version.
Perhaps it is, but was Broderick THIS bad in the stage version. Nathan Lane seems to worked out his take on the character to perfection, the timing and jokes – whilst corny – work a treat. But Broderick is no replacement for Gene Wilder. The nervousness, the blue blanket, just does not work in this version. Broderick is on safer ground when he is singing, but even then there is a sense of holding in some gusto. This is a musical first, a movie second. Yes movies require subtler acting, but musicals don’t. It isn’t terrible, but when you are left with fond thoughts of Lee Evans, you have to wonder what went wrong…