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.
Comment
03/30/07
The Good German (2006)
33 %
Reviews Counted: 141 Fresh: 46 Rotten:95 Average Rating: 5/10
Consensus:
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.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating]
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Theatrical Release: 09-03-2007
Synopsis: One of mainstream cinema's most tirelessly inventive directors, Steven Soderbergh delivers another big-budget stylistic experiment with THE GOOD GERMAN. This time around, Soderbergh's target is 1940s film noir. Set in postwar Berlin, the atmospheric thriller is based on the acclaimed... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire, Tony Curran, Beau Bridges
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Screenwriter: Paul Attanasio
Producer: Gregory Jacobs, Ben Cosgrove
Composer: Thomas Newman
Screenwriter: Paul Attanasio
Producer: Gregory Jacobs, Ben Cosgrove
Composer: Thomas Newman
Reviews
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03/17/07
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03/10/07
Top Critic
Why emphasise flaws in a film of such overall ambition and expertise?
03/08/07
Top CriticClick to read the article
03/08/07
Top Critic
[The Good German is] technically astonishing and Blanchett is excellent, but the script is dull and the confusing plot fails to engage.
03/08/07
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.
03/07/07
Top Critic
A film that feels more like a cinematographer's showreel than an involving drama: flashy, but heartless.
03/06/07
Top Critic
Steven Soderbergh recreates the style of a wartime noir thriller so perfectly that this film feels almost stilted and quaint by today's standards.
12/06/06
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".
05/02/08
The final verdict on this movie is that for all its attempts to replicate the great movies of the 1940s, it fails miserably.
07/14/07
While admirable as an example of directorial innovation and homage, The Good German fails to connect on a basic emotional level.
05/23/07
A homage to the romantic noir mysteries of the 1940s, a tribute that tries hard but, alas, misses the mark.
05/23/07
It's Soderbergh's commitment and creativity that lift The Good German above many of its peers, no matter the era.
03/24/07
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.
03/09/07
Related Forums
(2006/B&W)-THE GOOD GERMAN is just that ... good. A Casablanca-style story in Berlin!
by: Darko, Donnie 1/24/07
by: Darko, Donnie 1/24/07
A Good, But Not Great, Throwback to 1940s Film Noir
by: MH and THE MOVIES 12/28/06
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