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The Good German (2006)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 5/10
Reviews Counted: 146
Fresh: 47 | 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: 41
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 29

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.

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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

R, 1 hr. 47 min.

Drama, Romance, Mystery & Suspense

Directed By: Steven Soderbergh

Written By: Paul Attanasio, Joseph Kanon

In Theaters: Jan 19, 2007 Wide

On DVD: May 22, 2007

Box Office:$0.9M

Warner Bros. Pictures

The Good German Trailer & Photos

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Cast

George Clooney
Jake Geismer
Cate Blanchett
Lena Brandt
Tobey Maguire
Tully
Beau Bridges
Colonel Muller
Tony Curran
Danny
Leland Orser
Bernie Teitel
Jack Thompson
Congressman Breimer
Robin Weigert
Hannelore
Ravil Isyanov
General Sikorsky
Christian Oliver
Emile Brandt
Dave Power
Lieutenant Schaeffer
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 Narovlyanskiy
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 Tordi
The Butcher
David Willis
Franz Bettmann

Critic Reviews for The Good German

All Critics (152) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (105) | DVD (21)

This cast almost makes The Good German watchable. It's just that their screenwriter and director don't do them any favors.

January 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel

| Comment

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Top Critic

There's a line between homage and mimicry, and Soderbergh has crossed it.

January 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle

| Comment

Amy Biancolli

Houston Chronicle

Top Critic

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.

January 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Denver Post

| Comment

Michael Booth

Denver Post

Top Critic

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.

December 22, 2006 Full Review Source: Boston Globe

| Comment

Ty Burr

Boston Globe

Top Critic

I have to admire an ostensibly nostalgic entertainment that so concertedly undermines the romanticism of wartime Hollywood.

December 22, 2006 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

The photography is so beautiful, and the actors make brave choices, and Soderbergh's homage to the films he so obviously loves is done with such grace and passion -- so there's just enough that works to outweigh the major plot concerns.

December 22, 2006 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

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Richard Roeper

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

An utterly gaseous film

August 28, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion

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Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

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.

April 23, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com

| Comment

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

The Good German is the bad movie. Except for the ambience -- the look of the film -- it stumbles awkwardly on every level.

February 2, 2009 Full Review Source: Fayetteville Free Weekly

| Comment

Tony Macklin

Fayetteville Free Weekly

Clooney stars in thoughtful, complex noir mystery.

July 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

| Comment

Cynthia Fuchs

Common Sense Media

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".

May 2, 2008 Full Review Source: PopMatters

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Brian Holcomb

PopMatters

Lo m�s interesante de esta pel�cula es el rescate casi arqueol�gico que realiza el director Steven Soderbergh en claro homenaje al cine del Hollywood de los '40 (...)

October 16, 2007 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total

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Enrique Buchichio

Uruguay Total

Hollywood vi%u0161e nije u stanju praviti velike filmove

September 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Index.hr

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Dragan Antulov

Index.hr

The final verdict on this movie is that for all its attempts to replicate the great movies of the 1940s, it fails miserably.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Murphy's Movie Reviews

| Comment

Ted Murphy

Murphy's Movie Reviews

While admirable as an example of directorial innovation and homage, The Good German fails to connect on a basic emotional level.

May 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Aisle Seat

| Comment

Mike McGranaghan

Aisle Seat

...by the time this one was over, Soderbergh had impressed me more his by his ability to mimic an old film than by his ability to tell a coherent story.

May 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

A homage to the romantic noir mysteries of the 1940s, a tribute that tries hard but, alas, misses the mark.

May 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

Flat noir homage.

May 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The tip-off that this is intended to be taken as a tongue-in-cheek homage comes as the closing credits roll, when a familiar tableau might cause you to confuse this flick with Casablanca. Except instead of Paris, it's 'We'll all always have Potsdam.'

May 19, 2007 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze

| Comment

Kam Williams

NewsBlaze

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Audience Reviews for The Good German

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In the end, on an airstrip in the rain, it became clear what Soderbergh thought he was doing: making a new Casablanca. And while the "zigzag plot" praised in the film's promotional copy shares this with the classic, no other elements are even comparable. Tobey Maguire is completely miscast, and the film suffers, I

May 7, 2007

Daniel Perry

Super Reviewer

A serviceman investigates the death of a smuggler who was having an affair with his ex-girlfriend.The story of this film is such a classic noir that all its twists and turns are predictable, bordering on cliche, and director Steven Soderbergh is clearly paying homage to the directors of the early forties, particularly

November 10, 2011

Jim Hunter

Super Reviewer

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