The Producers
Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 16, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
19
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter 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
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It was fun, it was funny, it was alive. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy 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
PremiereStaff (not credited)
Once you drink The Producers' Kool-Aid, it's a thoroughly enjoyable descent into madness. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Producers hits few wrong notes on the big screen. Read full review
70
TimeRichard 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 VoiceJ. 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 A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
The result is largely a giddy, goofy delight. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverMelissa 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
Chicago ReaderJonathan 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
Washington PostStephen 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
67
Austin ChronicleSteve 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 OregonianShawn Levy
The new film is a nauseatingly unsteady medley of brilliance and foolish nonsense. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Enough is enough. Somebody should just stop remaking The Producers. Read full review
60
VarietyTodd McCarthy
So determinedly old-fashioned it makes a strong claim to being the best film musical of 1959. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly 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
NewsweekDavid 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 ReporterKirk 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
Film ThreatRory L. Aronsky
It's the curse of overacting and overdone shtick that does them in. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa 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
L.A. WeeklyScott 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
ReelViewsJames 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
New York Daily NewsJack 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
TV Guide MagazineMaitland 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 StonePeter 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 ChronicleMick 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
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Can't find its rhythm and stride. It plays it far too safe and slick. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence 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 HeraldChristine 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
40
Los Angeles TimesKevin 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 TimesDana Stevens
Ms. Thurman is the one bit of genuine radiance in this aggressively and pointlessly shiny, noisy spectacle. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Watching The Producers is simply exhausting. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael 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 PostKyle 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 JournalJoe 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
SlateDavid 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
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