They had everything to gain by not being a success!
Overview
A conniving Broadway producer and his meek accountant plan to profit from charming wealthy old biddies to invest in an overbudget production, and then put on a sure-fire disaster, so nobody will ask for their money back — and what's more disastrous than a tasteless musical celebrating Adolf Hitler.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.3/10
IMDb: 6.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 51%
Metacritic: 52
TMDB: 6.2/10
Director
Susan Stroman
Production
Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Brooksfilms
Cast
Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell, Gary Beach, Roger Bart, Eileen Essell, Michael McKean, David Huddleston, Debra Monk, Andrea Martin, Jon Lovitz, Bryn Dowling, Meg Gillentine, Kevin Ligon, Ray Wills, Marilyn Sokol, Brad Oscar, Tory Ross, Brent Barrett
Curator Review
Verdict
A glossy, high-energy remake of Mel Brooks’s Broadway farce, this version works best as a star-driven musical comedy when the performances are clicking and the jokes are landing fast. It’s broad, campy, and intentionally tasteless in places, but the humor can feel uneven and the film’s stagebound style won’t win over everyone.
Best for
fans of big Broadway-style musical comedy
viewers who enjoy camp, satire, and showbiz chaos
Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick completists
people who like joke-dense ensemble farces
Skip if
you dislike theatrical, stagey filmmaking
you want subtle or character-driven comedy
offensive satire about Nazis is an immediate turnoff
you prefer polished cinematic musicals over filmed stage adaptations
Overview
The Producers is built on a simple, gleefully rotten premise: two Broadway schemers try to make money by staging the worst show ever, then discover that bad taste can be a business model. That setup gives the movie its engine, and when the pace is brisk the film has a real vaudeville snap, with big entrances, frantic reversals, and a steady stream of double-entendre and showbiz panic.
Worth noting
The cast is the main attraction. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick lean into the material with committed, exaggerated timing, and the supporting turns are designed to pop like stage bits. The movie’s humor is knowingly vulgar and aggressively theatrical, which is part of the appeal; it’s less about realism than about watching performers attack a ridiculous premise with total conviction.
Bottom line
Still, the film’s strengths are also its limits. Some numbers feel overextended, and the comedy can be hit-or-miss if the material’s old-school Broadway sensibility doesn’t click for you. If you like satirical musicals that are shameless, campy, and built around performance energy more than cinematic finesse, it’s an easy watch; if not, it can feel like a very expensive inside joke.
Top Letterboxd reviews
leonard (5★) · 746 likes
DARLING QUICK, BACK IN THE CLOSET
shannon (4.5★) · 466 likes
I WAS NEVER A MEMBER OF THE NAZI PARTY
shannon (4.5★) · 445 likes
I'm being fully serious when I say this is the funniest movie I've ever seen and I will continue to watch matthew broderick hysterically scream on repeat everyday until I eventually die
Oliver Swift (3.5★) · 380 likes
Probably one of the only films to feature a pigeon performing a Nazi salute
1996 · Comedy, Romance · 1h 59m · R · Curator 7.8/10 (359.1K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Peacock Premium, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
A fast, broad, performance-driven comedy with sharp timing, queer-coded farce, and a similar taste for big comic personas.
1966 · Music, Comedy, Romance · 1h 37m · Curator 3.9/10 (18.8K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, MGM Plus, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Classic farce with frantic plotting, sexual innuendo, and a proudly silly theatrical sensibility.