undoubtedly the best thing in the movielet me preface this by saying the producers, the broadway show, is absolutely the funniest thing i have ever seen in my life. i saw it, luckily enough, with the original cast, and hysterical is not enough to describe them. the 1968 movie is in my top 5 comedies ever as well. but...the 2005 movie is absolutely awful, movie-wise. it's compulsively watchable because completely inept direction (susan stroman doesn't do much other than sticking her camera in the actors' faces) and pretty terribleish performances (nathan lane's performance was BRILLIANT!!! on stage, but he doesn't change it at all, and even in a production this ridiculous, it comes off as ludicrously over-the-top; broderick doesn't register; ferrell is over the top as well, but less crazy than lane at least; thurman, though i love her, is woefully miscast and has many accent slips; beach and bart do well, but certainly not fantastic) can't destroy the fact that it is very, very funny and i can't stop watching it every time it's on tv. but as a movie...? i can't give it more than a D+
