CNET Networks Entertainment GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

85 Alexandra
40 America the Beautiful
66 American Teen
74 Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer
65 August Evening
xx Bachna Ae Haseeno
62 Baghead
58 Beautiful Losers
xx Beer for My Horses
47 Before the Rains
80 Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
56 Bottle Shock
75 Boy A
55 Bra Boys
61 Brick Lane
64 Brideshead Revisited
47 Burn After Reading
61 Bustin' Down the Door
49 Children of Huang Shi, The
54 CSNY: Déjà Vu
xx Cthulhu
86 Edge of Heaven, The
66 Elegy
52 Elsa & Fred
80 Encounters at the End of the World
26 Everybody Wants to Be Italian
64 Fall, The
86 Flight of the Red Balloon, The
82 Frozen River
71 Girl Cut in Two, A
62 Girls Rock!
xx Goal II: Living the Dream
73 Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
54 Hamlet 2
25 Hell Ride
44 Henry Poole is Here
76 I Served the King of England
72 I.O.U.S. A
63 In Search of a Midnight Kiss
46 Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
67 Jellyfish
62 Kabluey
63 Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
78 Last Mistress, The
50 Last Stop for Paul
70 Love Songs
61 Man Named Pearl, A
89 Man on Wire
62 Mister Foe
85 Momma's Man
74 Mongol
46 My Mexican Shivah
80 Order of Myths, The
66 Patti Smith: Dream of Life
54 Ping Pong Playa
77 Pool, The
72 Priceless
61 Red
71 Roman de gare
78 Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
51 Savage Grace
55 Save Me
73 Secret, A
57 Sixty Six
58 Sukiyaki Western Django
xx Surfer, Dude
83 Tell No One
56 Then She Found Me
71 To the Limit
72 Transsiberian
81 Trouble the Water
83 U2 3D
86 Up the Yangtze
79 Visitor, The
61 Wackness, The
54 What We Do Is Secret
66 When Did You Last See Your Father?
67 XXY
54 Year of the Fish
xx Young People F**king
75 Young@Heart

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Producers, The
Universal Pictures

Producers, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 52 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.0 out of 10
based on 37 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 136 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexual humor and references

Starring Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, Will Ferrell, Roger Bart, Gary Beach, Andrea Martin, and Debra Monk

The movie classic that became a Broadway sensation now becomes a movie musical event.


GENRE(S): Comedy  |  Musical  
WRITTEN BY: Mel Brooks (also 1968 screenplay, 2001 stage play book & lyrics)
Thomas Meehan (also 2001 stage play music)
 
DIRECTED BY: Susan Stroman  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: May 16, 2006 
Theatrical: December 16, 2005 
RUNNING TIME: 134 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

Received four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture (Musical or Comedy).

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

83
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
It's a classic example of how a movie can be great without, strictly speaking, being good. But when something is this funny, who wants to speak strictly?
Read Full Review
75
Boston Globe Ty Burr
Susan Stroman directed the show on Broadway and what she has done here is photograph that show -- no more, no less. This is good news for anyone who couldn't afford a trip to New York and $100 tickets, but it's a fairly odd approach to cinema.
Read Full Review
75
Premiere Staff (not credited)
Once you drink The Producers' Kool-Aid, it's a thoroughly enjoyable descent into madness.
Read Full Review
75
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Producers hits few wrong notes on the big screen.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It was fun, it was funny, it was alive.
Read Full Review
70
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
It's too long to be great and it's too square to be great and it's too loud to be great and it finds homosexual effeminacy too funny to ever be called great, but I can't imagine anyone coming out sadder than they went in.
Read Full Review
70
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Brooks's sweetness, innocence, and boundless love of the infantile inform everything from the brassy production numbers (capped by an homage to Jailhouse Rock) to the final credits.
Read Full Review
70
Dallas Observer Melissa Levine
In the end, The Producers is an enjoyable romp, and at times--as when Hitler sings "Heil Myself"--it's hilarious. But it's not transcendent.
Read Full Review
70
Time Richard Schickel
There's no attempt to address the show's endemic weak spots--a slow start and a contrived end. Mostly Stroman just lets it rip. But in some respects the movie is an improvement on the show.
Read Full Review
70
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Broderick is a genuine trouper, hoofing his way through his big numbers, while Lane's antics are difficult to resist.
Read Full Review
70
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
The result is largely a giddy, goofy delight.
Read Full Review
67
Austin Chronicle Steve Davis
In the world of Mel Brooks, everything is fair game and anything is good for a laugh. God bless Mel Brooks.
Read Full Review
67
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
The new film is a nauseatingly unsteady medley of brilliance and foolish nonsense.
Read Full Review
63
USA Today Claudia Puig
Enough is enough. Somebody should just stop remaking The Producers.
Read Full Review
60
Variety Todd McCarthy
So determinedly old-fashioned it makes a strong claim to being the best film musical of 1959.
Read Full Review
60
Empire Olly Richards
As a chance to see the celebrated Broadway show with the original cast, this is a treat. As a re-interpretation of a classic, though, it's a disappointment.
Read Full Review
50
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Brooks gives himself the last word, appearing onscreen for the first time amid chorus girls oozing PG-13 pulchritude. "Go home!" he says. "It's over!" Could he be referring to his career?
Read Full Review
50
Miami Herald Christine Dolan
The chemistry is intact, but performances that were reaching-for-the-balcony big on Broadway haven't been scaled back a bit for a more intimate, up-close medium.
Read Full Review
50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
Can't find its rhythm and stride. It plays it far too safe and slick.
Read Full Review
50
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
If you have seen the play, especially if you've seen it with the original cast, treasure the memory and protect it. The movie will attack it like a virus.
Read Full Review
50
Film Threat Rory L. Aronsky
It's the curse of overacting and overdone shtick that does them in.
Read Full Review
50
Newsweek David Ansen
The theatricality is off the charts. Lane aims for the balconies; Broderick tones it down for the camera a bit.
Read Full Review
50
The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
The best two performances belong to Uma Thurman and Will Ferrell. For the film to work, though, the two best roles should belong to Tony-winning Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the title roles.
Read Full Review
50
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The accountant in Bloom would probably approve of the new Producers: It's an efficient extension of a popular brand. In theory, what's not to like? In reality, the whole schmear.
Read Full Review
50
LA Weekly Scott Foundas
The musical film version of The Producers is, for better or worse, a faithful record of the stage production, adhering to the same if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it philosophy that informed the recent "Rent."
Read Full Review
50
ReelViews James Berardinelli
The Producers is a movie based on a play based on a movie about a play. And that's probably the funniest thing about it.
Read Full Review
50
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The film falls short even as a record of Broderick and Lane's crowd-pleasing rapport: Both have done the show so many times that every scrap of life is gone.
Read Full Review
50
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Stroman should have studied the original Producers that Brooks directed in 1968, with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. It answers the question "Where did they go right?"
Read Full Review
50
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Most of the bits and performances have a hard time making the transition from stage to screen.
Read Full Review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
This is the stage experience documented on film, from the perspective of someone sitting front row centre watching actors pitching for the back rows of the balcony.
Read Full Review
40
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Watching The Producers is simply exhausting.
Read Full Review
40
Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
Whereas the original film is gleefully crass and energetically paced, the movie musical, weighing in at a robust two-plus hours, is bloated and self-satisfied. Whatever spectacle the stage musical possessed to make it such a box-office behemoth fails to transfer to the screen.
Read Full Review
40
The New York Times Dana Stevens
Ms. Thurman is the one bit of genuine radiance in this aggressively and pointlessly shiny, noisy spectacle.
Read Full Review
38
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
The Producers on screen, as a musical, does not work. It is not very funny. It doesn't look right. It's depressing.
Read Full Review
25
New York Post Kyle Smith
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!
Read Full Review
20
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The Producers is nightmarish, in its febrile way, a head-bangingly primitive version of an overrated Broadway show that grew out of a clumsy 1968 movie with an inflated reputation.
20
Slate David Edelstein
There are no real people in The Producers --only actors laboring to dispel whatever magic they once were thought to possess. The director, Susan Stroman, has brought the Broadway smash to the screen (where it began, almost 40 years ago) with cataclysmic results.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 136 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ken gave it a6:
Though some of the humor falls flat and it suffers from an unbearably long ending, The Producers is quite a fun and exuberant movie.

Roy R. gave it a0:
I'm someone who has a fairly strong stomach for bad films, it takes a nasty ride for me to stop appreciating something even as wallpaper, That said I turned this off. It was making me sick so I turned it off.

John H. gave it an8:
I never saw the Broadway production. I am too young (15) to know the original version. But this movie seemed like a good performance of a good musical. It does not stand out for its musical virtues, but nothing on Broadway (besides Soundheim) is of musical caliber anywhere near the average classical CD I can pick up at the library. Musicals are never created to showcase music alone, anyway. Two complaints seem to be: that the movie does not convey the full brilliance of the Broadway version, and that it does not take advantage of the movie-medium. As to the second, I would be sorely upset if any more of the music was cut out; I rented the DVD to see a full musical for a fortieth the price, not a destroyed and non-musical movie based on a musical which was originally based on a non-musical movie that was (apparently) great to begin with. And, if the Broadway rendition was much better than this one, it must truly have been magnificent; this one is quite good.

Melissa M. gave it a2:
I was truely disappointed. This is the first Mel Brooks production I've ever seen that I didn't like. I don't think I laughed a single time. Just Mel cracking jokes at Jews and Gays and Nazi's because he can -- after all, he is Mel... Miss this one, hopefully he will bounce back.

J Liddy gave it a3:
This movie disapoints. I wonder if those reviewers who rated this movie highly ever saw the original whick was truely a scream and should be seen so as to put this remake in context. The role of "LSD" as played by Dick Shawn was incredibly funny but was written out of the remake. Will Ferrel could have been a great "LSD". Yet the originally small role of the swedish secretary was expanded, unecesary, and boring. Nathan Lane is Talented but Zero Mostel was a genius who's portrayal of Max reached into the audience's head whith madcap angst. I never fully apeciated his talent until now. Rent this movie, but buy the original and enjoy it for years to come.

A Movie Critic gave it a5:
Too long. The problem is the songs, which serve to interrupt the comedy and story, and end up dragging on and on. I'm sure they were entertaining on Broadway, but on a screen, it's just not. It's boring, and the songs drag on and on. On a Broadway stage, songs can go on and on because there's something exciting, (I guess) about seeing big musical numbers performed right in front of you. But in a movie, on a screen, they've got to be short and quick, because they do nothing but interrupt the plot. The movie, (when there's no singing going on,) is funny, and the idea was always a creative one, and there are some very funny performanes here. But you can't enjoy the movie when it keeps interrupting itself for yet another pointless musical number. Clocking in at over 2 hours, it's a long movie, and one that would have been much better with at least 30 minutes cut. And there's no question about where the cuts should have taken place; the SONGS. Some could have easily been eliminated (or at the very least shortened) and it would have greatly benefitted the movie.

Jeff F. gave it a7:
Pretty good film,but why did they leave out the best parts of the original? L.S.D. The bar scene and blowing up the theater.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: Fantasy Football | Miley Cyrus | MLB | iPhone 3G | GPS | Recipes | Shwayze | NFL

About CNET Networks | Jobs | Advertise

© 2008 CNET Networks, Inc., a CBS Company. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use