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08/07/08
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Good Bye, Lenin! (2004)
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Reviews Counted:27
Fresh:22
Rotten:5
Average Rating:6.5/10
Consensus: Funny and poignant social critique of German reunification.
Theatrical Release:Feb 27, 2004 Limited
Box Office: $3,921,721
Synopsis: October, 1989 was a bad time to fall into a coma if you lived in East Germany – and this is precisely what happens to Alex’s proudly socialist mother. Alex has a big problem on his hands when she... [More]
Starring: Katrin Sass, Daniel Bruhl, Chulpan Khamatova, Alexander Beyer
Director: Wolfgang Becker
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Reviews for Good Bye, Lenin!
Top CriticNon-Germans will certainly get the essence of the humor but may find the movie long and repetitive.
07/21/04
Top CriticCharming and eventually poignant.
05/13/04
Top CriticIt is a sweethearted comedy about the fall of Communism and the lingering nostalgia for an East Germany that no longer exists.
04/22/04
Top CriticWatching Becker invent new challenges and new solutions in scene after scene makes Good Bye, Lenin! a joyous show, blurred by tears of sympathy.
04/02/04
Top CriticServes up an odd but intriguing situation.
04/02/04
Top CriticIt is no doubt filled with references and in-jokes we do not quite understand. But the central idea travels well.
03/26/04
Top CriticGood Bye, Lenin! beautifully mixes comedy, sentimentality, and cynicism.
03/26/04
Top CriticBecker ably milks the premise for irony and amusement.
03/26/04
Top CriticA deft balance of wistful family drama and drollery.
03/25/04
Top CriticLike the East German pickles Alex finds for his mother, it's a tasty but evasive treat, no matter what your taste in politics or movies.
03/25/04
Top CriticIt is not a step-by-step chronicle of German reunification, but it gives a perspective of the time. It's a bonus that this comes as part of an engrossing and well told story.
03/24/04
Top CriticCombination of comedy and gravity is certainly common enough, but it requires a sure hand and perceptible intent. This screenplay has some neat touches, but it never makes up its mind.
03/21/04
Top CriticBeneath the family saga and easy digs at the tackiness of Western consumer culture, Becker presents a serious critique of authoritarianism and propaganda.
03/19/04
Top CriticBecker handles the film's comedy with fluency ... but he's even better when it comes to the story's more wistful dramatic elements.
03/19/04
Top CriticAnyone who has ever longed for the good ol' days -- even the ones that weren't so good -- will find resonance in this well-told and well-acted parable of family and political unification.
03/19/04
Top CriticIt's mainly a hunt for ironies, usually playful but occasionally poignant, and the search is definitely successful enough to merit our attention -- although maybe not the two-hour running time.
03/19/04
Top CriticThe impulses to entertain and enlighten are at odds here, and the final result ends up landing somewhere in between: smart, funny, but rarely both at the same time.
03/18/04
Top CriticDeliciously offbeat comedy, as wildly inventive as anything Billy Wilder ever conceived.
03/12/04
Top CriticWell-acted by Sass and the very likable Brühl.
03/12/04
Top CriticLatest News for Good Bye, Lenin!
July 18, 2005:
Watch the First 6 Mins of "The Edukators"
The first six minutes of "The Edukators" is up on Rotten Tomatoes. An import from Germany, the film tells a story of love and anarchy. More...
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