The Producers

A couple of sleazy producers figure out the best way to financial success on Broadway is to bilk their investors with a sure-fire flop, so the two scumbags throw their time into Springtime for Hitler, a light musical tribute to the Third Reich. But when the show inexplicably turns out to be a hit, the fellas find they've got a lot of trouble on their hands. Stop us if you think you've heard this one before, because you have. It's not only the basis for Mel Brooks' Oscar winning 1968 movie, The Producers, but also the smash hit musical version that is still running. Now we have the movie version of the musical (still with us?), which is pretty much the play, shot for shot. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprise their original roles with such go-for-broke glee, they compare favorably to the all time great comedy teams. Full of belly laughs and lots of fun (would you expect anything less from the man who gave the world Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs, and Young Frankenstein?), The Producers also boasts a hilarious Will Ferrell as the Nazi sympathizer who wrote the hit and the sensationally sexy Uma Thurman as the Swedish bombshell, Ulla. Set in the '50s, and so visually flat it feels like it was shot back then, this version exists strictly for laughs—which Mel being Mel (read: deliriously tasteless and over the top) delivers in droves.