saw The Producers, the remake of the 1968 movie. I never saw the original, nor the stage revival, but I enjoyed it today with fresh eyes, and thought it was good fun. I’ve always had mixed feelings about Mel Brookes’ work, which tends to be a bit hit and miss (though I love 90% of Spaceballs, and have yet to see some of his most famous films), and The Producers was a little uneven, but had some classic moments. It started off a bit messily, badly in need of some anchoring realism or a straight man, but once we got to the process of staging Springtime for Hitler, the movie came into its own and provided plenty of big laughs.
In the car on the way home, I raised something that had occurred to me: I thought it was quite offensive to gay people. Not for the stereotyping, of course – the whole film was full of stereotypes, and I think a little bit of political incorrectness is healthy, and found most of the stereotypes very funny. But when the entire plot hinges on the appearance of the gay stereotype director as Hitler and suddenly everyone stops being offended and starts laughing because, well, of course these camp people cannot be taken seriously and MUST be a source of humour, I thought that was perhaps a bit too far.
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