The Producers

I was raised on Mel Brooks deep into his time doing slapstick parody of other movies and genres like Spaceballs or Blazing Saddles. A movie from him that’s just a straight comedy sounds weird … and considering Life Stinks was that and it, well, stunk, I wasn’t sure how The Producers would go. It’s definitely an amusing movie. The jokes aren’t as satirical or slapstick as they’d get in the 70’s and 80’s, but there’s still humor to enjoy. Gene Wilder is always fun to watch. And you can see seeds of what would become the Brooks style. It’s not a knockout punch of comedy like future works would be, but it’s still ludicrous and the performances are full of energy, and it’s a light, breezy 90 minutes. When it’s biggest sun is “it only made me smile, not split a side”, that’s not terrible.