The Good German (2007)
Average Rating: 5/10
Reviews Counted: 147
Fresh: 48 | Rotten: 99
Though Steven Soderbergh succeeds in emulating the glossy look of 1940s noirs, The Good German ultimately ends up as a self-conscious exercise in style that forgets to develop compelling characters.
Average Rating: 5/10
Critic Reviews: 46
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 33
Though Steven Soderbergh succeeds in emulating the glossy look of 1940s noirs, The Good German ultimately ends up as a self-conscious exercise in style that forgets to develop compelling characters.
liked it
Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 36,430
Movie Info
A U.S. Army war correspondent is drawn into a deadly mystery in post-war Berlin as he seeks out his wartime mistress in this adaptation of author Joseph Kanon's best-selling novel. The war is over, and Jake Geismar (George Clooney) is an American journalist assigned the task of covering the peace in Berlin -- but he was once lovers with a mysterious woman named Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett). Lena is a lady with many secrets to hide, however, and now that the fighting has ceased, she has every
Watch It Now
Cast
-
George Clooney
Jake Geismer -
Cate Blanchett
Lena Brandt -
Tobey Maguire
Tully -
Robin Weigert
Hannelore -
Dave Power
Lieutenant Schaeffer -
Beau Bridges
Colonel Muller -
Tony Curran
Danny -
Leland Orser
Bernie Teitel -
Jack Thompson
Congressman Breimer -
Ravil Isyanov
General Sikorsky -
Christian Oliver
Emile Brandt -
Don Pugsley
Gunther -
Dominic Comperatore
Levi -
John Roeder
General -
J. Paul Boehmer
British Press Aide -
Igor Korosec
Russian Soldier -
Boris Kievsky
Russian Soldier -
Vladimir Kulikov
Russian Soldier -
Yevgeniy Narovlyansk...
Russian Soldier -
Aleksandr Sountsov
Russian Soldier -
Dean Misch
German Boy -
Justin Misch
German Boy -
Justin Pugsley
German Boy -
Tom Cummins
British Interviewer -
Brandon Keener
Clerk -
Gianfranco L'Amore T...
The Butcher -
David Willis
Franz Bettmann
ADVERTISEMENT
The Good German Trailer & Photos
All Critics (153) | Top Critics (48) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (99) | DVD (21)
Why emphasise flaws in a film of such overall ambition and expertise?
Top CriticThis cast almost makes The Good German watchable. It's just that their screenwriter and director don't do them any favors.
There's a line between homage and mimicry, and Soderbergh has crossed it.
We get no heroes, not even flawed ones. Clooney, our marquee man, chases through numbing plot contortions only because of his lust for Lena. By the time The Good German ended, I had barely a clue if the good ones had lived or died.
The Good German is a movie wonk's triumph and no one else's. Soderbergh gets the visuals right but not the clean storytelling line of classic cinema, nor the iconic characters or moral certainty of the oldies.
I have to admire an ostensibly nostalgic entertainment that so concertedly undermines the romanticism of wartime Hollywood.
An utterly gaseous film
A beautifully flawed experiment, "The Good German" is an entertaining if unbalanced war drama that places modern cinema mores on a classic style of American film when the Hayes code would never have allowed such overt sexual reality.
The Good German is the bad movie. Except for the ambience -- the look of the film -- it stumbles awkwardly on every level.
No matter that it's based on a book, the movie is more about how the reality of the time was seen through the lens of a Michael Curtiz while he was filming "Casablanca".
The final verdict on this movie is that for all its attempts to replicate the great movies of the 1940s, it fails miserably.
While admirable as an example of directorial innovation and homage, The Good German fails to connect on a basic emotional level.
A homage to the romantic noir mysteries of the 1940s, a tribute that tries hard but, alas, misses the mark.
Flat noir homage.
Buddies Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney started out so well. But The Good German is so painful that their recent decision to go their separate ways really merits a gospel choir.
It's Soderbergh's commitment and creativity that lift The Good German above many of its peers, no matter the era.
It's an achievement so hermetic it hardly bothers to be a movie.
It's "The Good German," but not "The Great German."
While the title raises the question of whether it is possible to escape atrocity without somehow being complicit with those committing them ... Soderbergh seems infinitely more interested in making an anachronism than a timeless film.
[The Good German is] technically astonishing and Blanchett is excellent, but the script is dull and the confusing plot fails to engage.
This should have been Soderbergh gold. Instead it is mostly unengaging and dull, proof positive that they don't make them like they used to.
A film that feels more like a cinematographer's showreel than an involving drama: flashy, but heartless.
The lot of it is pseudonoir.
Modern sensibilities crash against period style...
Steven Soderbergh massages his fond memories of the golden (if sometimes black and white) days of movies with a noirish sensibility.
Audience Reviews for The Good German
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Movies Like The Good German
-
- Lena Brandt: He's a good German.
Discussion Forum
What's Hot On RT
New Desolation of Smaug trailer!
Naomi Watts is Princess Di
The Hangover 3, The Purge, and More
Trailer for a squirrely heist flick
See what's on TV tonight
Latest News on The Good German
July 20, 2007:
Catalina Sandina Morena Joins Soderbergh's Che FilmsDid you know that Steven Soderbergh was making a movie about Che Guevara? Starring Benicio Del Toro...
December 19, 2006:
RTIndie: Suit-Seeking Bob Dylan Isn't the Only One Against "Factory Girl"Much has been made lately of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's demands to screen the Weinstein Co.'s...
December 18, 2006:
Box Office Wrapup: Moviegoers Get Jiggy with "Happyness"Box office heavyweight Will Smith scored his sixth consecutive number one opening this weekend with...
Fresh Links
Featured
Halloween Movies For Wimps
Scary movies too scary for you? Here are some alternatives for October 31st.
10 Best Superhero TV Shows
HitFix combs through TV history to compile a superpowered list.
Ridiculous Movie Mistakes
RollingStone proves even the best movies miss a details here and there.
Deadly Movie Kids
Moviefone lists 11 Movie Kids Who Could Kick Our Asses.
50 States, 50 Movies
For July 4th, TimeOut has compiled 50 state-specific movie choices.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- Primetime Preview: Supernatural, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and More 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: The Hangover Part III, The Purge, and More 11
- Primetime Preview: Beauty and the Beast, Sleepy Hollow and More 0
- NYFF: Joaquin Phoenix and James Gray talk The Immigrant 2
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Gravity Stuns with Record $55M Launch 80
- Primetime Preview: Witches of East End, Once Upon a Time and More 4
- Weekly Ketchup: Disney Plans Live Action Cruella de Vil Movie 37
Top Headlines
-
Fox Animated Series, ABC Comedies Tumble in Sunday Ratings
0
-
Bong Joon-ho Reportedly "Furious" About Snowpiercer Cuts
0
-
Record-Setting Number of Films Competing in Foreign-Language Oscar Race
0
-
Woody Allen Cancels Blue Jasmine's India Premiere
1
-
Lionsgate Wants Gary Ross and Jennifer Lawrence's Burial Rites
1
-
ABC Plans Kevin Hart-Inspired Series
0
-
The Shining's Danny Torrance Is All Grown Up
1
