A point of some controversy may be the mannerisms of several extremely flamboyant homosexual characters, whose character traits are the basis for many of the film’s punch lines (one character literally hisses when he speaks). Some viewers will see this as a throwback to the era in which the film is set, while others will find it a good-natured send-up of excessive behavior. Those who frown upon these attempts at humor won’t care for the movie, which relies heavily on such jokes.

In addition to the often bawdy content, the adaptation of the Broadway hit to film could have been much more imaginative. Director Susan Stroman, who also directed and choreographed the Broadway production, wastes much of the widescreen potential that film allows her, placing the principal characters close together in the frame, while the space surrounding them serves no artful purpose.

Although Bialystock and Bloom pay for their crimes, the film ends on a note of ambiguity, offering no moral reassurance that the perpetrators have learned the error of their ways. But moral lessons are not the order of the day for this zany musical, which will long before either have won the viewer over, or lost him completely.

AUDIENCE:  Older teens and up

CAUTIONS:

• Language/Profanity:  Lord’s name taken in vain; sexually suggestive banter throughout; song lyrics are also very suggestive’ “s---”; “a--hole”;
• Drugs/Alcohol:  Some drinking
• Sex/Profanity:  Bialystock sleeps with older women as a prerequisite to asking them for their money; Bloom and Ulla appear to consummate their love in Bloom’s office, but Ulla later attests to Bloom’s purity; chorus girls during musical numbers are scantily clad; a man grabs a woman’s rear end
• Homosexuality:  Several characters in the film are gay, and some have extremely effeminate mannerisms; two men brawling are mistaken for lovers.
• Violence:  Echoes of the Holocaust throughout the film, although the movie is a send-up of Nazi sympathizers, among many other targets. The musical production staged by the main characters is intended as a love letter to Hitler. Liebkind shoots his gun at other characters, then attempts suicide multiple times.
• Crime:  The film revolves around a scheme by the two principal characters to use investors’ money for their own enrichment.
• Prayer:  Bialystock prays … for money.