Review of The Good German (2006) by Keating T — 02 Feb 2012

In 1946, an American army correspondent Jake Geismar (Clooney) comes into Berlin, not realizing that he'll be seeing his former girlfriend Lena Brandt (Blanchett) once again. Lena is stuck in Germany, her husband is missing, and her new boyfriend has been found murdered.

Jake tries to help her get what she wants, but instead the road takes a darker turn. "The Good German" sounds like a great movie on paper-- it's directed by Steven Soderbergh ("sex, lies and videotape, "Contagion"), stars Academy- Award winners Cate Blanchett and George Clooney, and most of all, the film pays homage, if not total mimicry, to a black-and-white 1940's style film noir.

Unfortunately, on the screen, "The Good German" fails. Soderbergh achieves the glossy look of noir, the score is perfect, and the acting from Blanchett and Clooney is top-notch but that's about it.

The plot is paper thin, and that's what makes the movie so forgettable. This is a movie with a super bad case of style over substance, and films that have this problem just don't last. That's what's unfortunate.

If this film had been improved, it could be a classic, but because Soderbergh didn't pay attention to what's actually important it falls on its face. To make matters worse, he also decided to have graphic language, sex scenes, and violence, none of which would have been allowed in the '40's, ruining the feel even more, and Maguire (who luckily gets killed off pretty fast) is so miscast as the "scary villain" could have made the film unbearable.

"The Good German" is barely getting three stars from me. It's so disappointing to think somebody as good as Soderbergh could fail on so many levels.