Fresh
Why emphasise flaws in a film of such overall ambition and expertise?
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
The Good German
If war is Hell, then what comes after?
2006 · 1h 48m · R
Crime, Drama, Mystery
Directed by
Steven Soderbergh
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The Good German
Overview
An American journalist arrives in Berlin just after the end of World War Two. He becomes involved in a murder mystery surrounding a dead GI who washes up at a lakeside mansion during the Potsdam negotiations between the Allied powers. Soon his investigation connects with his search for his married pre-war German lover.
Director and cast
- Steven Soderbergh Director
- George Clooney as Jake Geismar
- Cate Blanchett as Lena Brandt
- Tobey Maguire as Tully
- Beau Bridges as Colonel Muller
- Tony Curran as Danny
- Leland Orser as Bernie Teitel
- Jack Thompson as Congressman Breimer
- Robin Weigert as Hannelore
- Ravil Isyanov as General Sikorsky
- Christian Oliver as Emil Brandt
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
34%
Tomatometer
Rotten
This cast almost makes The Good German watchable. It's just that their screenwriter and director don't do them any favors.
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Rotten
There's a line between homage and mimicry, and Soderbergh has crossed it.
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle
Rotten
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.
Michael Booth, Denver Post
Rotten
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.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
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