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| Springtime again |
THE PRODUCERS Directed by Susan Stroman
Certificate 12A
IF you’ve ever been embarrassed by catching yourself singing
‘Springtime For Hitler’ in the shower, you will know that
Mel Brooks’s The Producers is one of the best comedies ever
conceived.
Now, almost 40 years after the release of the original film, comes
the film of the Tony award-winning smash Broadway and West End musical.
In essence, this comedy is so strong it went from film to stage
and back to film – the latter bringing with it a foreboding
for those who adored the 1968 film with reverence.
The 2005 version features the musical’s Broadway stars Nathan
Lane and Matthew Broderick reprising for the cameras the characters
of the conman theatre producer Max Bialystock and his wet accountant
Leo Bloom as they try to stage a flop play designed to net them
all of the investors’ money.
Long for a comedy – at 134 minutes – this production suffered
some casting problems, with the pivotal role of the producer’s
luscious secretary being batted around amongst a variety of actresses,
including Nicole Kidman, and ending up with Uma Thurman.
Made in essence to capture the performances of its two leading men,
director Susan Stroman was brought in to keep the theatrical feel.
The Producers 2005 stands as a hybrid between the glorious inanity
of the original film and the skill of Lane and Broderick.
With straightforward stage pieces crafted with high production values,
the pace never sags.
Drafted-in for the film, Will Ferrell surprisingly pales in his
role as Franz Liebkind, the pigeon man who genuinely believes Hitler
was misunderstood.
Almost stealing the show are stage production members Gary Beach
as director Roger De Bris and his ‘assistant’ Carmen Ghia
(Roger Bart) – both gay stereotypes beyond belief, so much
so that the Village People even make an appearance.
Knowing the role so well, Lane and Broderick are rock solid in their
characters, leaving little room for Thurman who, nevertheless, acquits
herself with good humour and not a little hoofing. Is it good? If
you saw the stage play with Lane when it ran in London, you won’t
be disappointed.
If you are in love with the film, prepare yourself for a different
experience that will have you enamoured by the time ‘Springtime
for Hitler’ hoves into view.
They’re dead and loving it
JUST LIKE HEAVEN Directed by Mark Waters
Certificate 12A
JUST Like Heaven stars Reese Witherspoon as a young doctor who
doesn’t know she’s dead in this fresh if somewhat bumpy
look at the course of powerful attraction and making impossible
dreams come true.
Directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls, Freaky Friday), this romantic
comedy manages to touch on some serious issues as it approaches
its core notion: the power of true love.
A young workaholic emergency doctor Elizabeth (Witherspoon) has
no personal life outside of her steady stream of patients. Ambitious
and committed, she nevertheless wakes up apparently dead and standing
in her own apartment as a ghost, arguing with its new dishy occupant
David (Mark Ruffalo) who has a few personal ghosts of his own.
As in previous ghost-bound features, only David can see Elizabeth
but she finds she can physically affect him – as evidenced
by her jumping into his body and making a fool of him at a local
bar.
Although San Francisco looms luscious and luminous, providing a
gorgeous background, the tone is more melancholy than merry as the
‘dead’ woman and the emotional zombie of a man clearly
fall for each other.
Witherspoon’s energy makes her character seem even more alive
than Ruffalo’s who plays David as if he was genuinely dead
already. Happily, just when we think we know what is going to happen,
the story takes a turn into trouble – and it is by that time
we know we’re rather enamoured of the couple who, by now, we
know are attracted by fate to each other’s circumstance.
There’s also a nice supporting role for Jon Heder (Napoleon
Dynamite) as the local bookshop mystic who gives spiritual guidance
of a different sort to the labouring couple.
Also showing
Cheaper by the Dozen 2
Steve Martin (pictured left) stars in this limp remake of the family
classic by director Adam Shankman. As the head of a large family,
Martin chooses to take his clan to a lake for a final great holiday
– not planning on bumping into Martin's rival Eugene Levy,
who has also brought his family of eight. There’s not much
funny going on in this “family” film released for the
holidays.
Live And Become
French/Romanian director Radu Mihaileanu’s social drama centres
on a young Ethiopian boy who pretends to be a Jew in order to be
included in the rescue mission for the Falasha Jews brought to Israel
in the mid-1980s. Dramatised in standard fashion, this feature is
no less moving as it follows the consequences of the boy’s
decision over the following two decades.
Rize
Spectacular dance documentary by pop video maker turned director
David LaChappelle. Concentrating on street dancing called ‘clowning’
and ‘krumping’, there are some serious hip-hop tunes and
the slow-motion footage lovingly lingers on the dancers’ honed
bodies.
An entertaining piece documenting modern LA cultural history.
Pick of the indies
Boudu Saved From Drowning
Jean Renoir’s classic social satire stars Michael Simon as
Boudu (pictured) a tramp who tries to drown himself only to be rescued
by a kindly bookseller (Eduard Lestingois).
Despite genuine concern over the suicidal man, the bookseller makes
the error of taking him into his home – off the back of being
applauded for his actions, he is now held in high esteem in the
community. This move does not at first endear wife Emma or maid
Anne-Marie (with whom he is having an affair) to the smelly beggar
who does everything a cartoon tramp would do in the same circumstances
– make a mess, eat without manners and make a move on any females
within proximity.
Noted for Simon’s fantastic performance, this film’s message
against intelligent French society has somewhat lost its punch.
What it does show are the finer points of hypocrisy from anyone
who plays the game of social status – and it is still very
funny. |
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