The Good German Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
If war is hell then what comes after?
Every heart has its secrets, some more dangerous than others.
Not Everyone Finds Peace After The War
Berlin, July, 1945. Journalist Jake Geismer arrives to cover the Potsdam conference, issued a captain's uniform for easier passage. He also wants to find Lena, an old flame who's now a prostitute desperate to get out of Berlin. He discovers that the driver he's assigned, a cheerful down-home sadist named Corporal Tully, is Lena's keeper. When the body of a murdered man washes up in Potsdam (within the Russian sector), Jake may be the only person who wants to solve the crime: U.S. personnel are busy finding Nazis to bring to trial, the Russians and the Americans are looking for German rocket scientists, and Lena has her own secrets.
| Jack Thompson | Congressman Breimer |
| John Roeder | General |
| George Clooney | Capt. Jacob 'Jake' Geismer |
| Tobey Maguire | Patrick Tully |
| Cate Blanchett | Lena Brandt |
| Dominic Comperatore | Levi |
| Dave Power | Lieutenant Schaeffer |
| Tony Curran | Danny |
| Ravil Isyanov | General Sikorsky |
| J. Paul Boehmer | British Press Aide |
| Igor Korosec | Russian Soldier #1 |
| Boris Kievsky | Russian Soldier #2 |
| Vladimir Kulikov | Russian Soldier #3 |
| Yevgeniy Narovlyanskiy | Russian Soldier #4 |
| Aleksandr Sountsov | Russian Soldier #5 |
| Steven Soderbergh |
6.10 out of 10 (2347 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Good German-Collective Guilt & Guilt for this Tedious Film **1/2
posted on 18 Aug 2009Bombed out Germany after World War 11 provides the action for this film dealing with deceit all around us.Toby McGuire, as the chauffeur for journalist Jacob Geismar, (George Clooney) is horribly miscast. He is far too young for the part and appears as though he should jump back into the spider man series. Now seen on film as a young smoker, he blows smoke like a chimney stack and it's depressing to see him and Clooney puffing away like there is no tomorrow. True, the film takes place in the 1940s when people really didn't know about the hazards of smoking, but something has to be done now about smoking in film. Even Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis would have to admit that.The big surprise in the film is Cate Blanchett as some sort of mystery woman. She desperately tries to imitate Marlene Dietrich and in her farewell scene, she walks to the plane with the bag under her arm in the same exact way that Ingrid Bergman did so in the memorable "Casablanca." Blanchett is up to her neck in duplicity but she speaks in an extremely low voice in a performance that's not one of her best.The film deals with the extremes that the U.S. government would go through to bring someone who committed atrocities to the U.S. due to his knowledge of atomic warfare.The film becomes muddled towards the end as we wonder what's really going on with the Blanchett character.The cinematography is excellent. The backdrop scenes dealing with the Potsdam Conference in July, 1945 are well done.
Pretty good but could have used better resolution.
posted on 10 Aug 2009Things I liked: *Clooney-not that bad considering he was def. NOT playing a hero.*Cate-world weary and full of secrets, cast against type as she's not a raving beauty.*Fine '40's black and white atmosphere, backlot production, boom mikes, etc. Enjoyable.*I liked the supporting cast of 'Bernie', Sikorsky, and the thuggish Luthor there. Beau Bridges is wasted however.What's not to like: *Emil Brandt there winds up dead. C'mon guys...*They were paying a tribute (of sorts) to both the Third Man and Casablanca throughout the movie, but this thing cannot hold a candle to either. They botched the plane/pseudo-Casablanca ending and I think they know it. Maybe Soderburgh thought he could, ummm, improve on it-? Adding a dose of reality? Ummm, sure. Gimme a break. Bogie and Raines and Bergman, light years ahead of this. You know it's true.*Tobey Maguire. Miscast, poor performance, hammy. I like him in general but here he didn't work.*They wasted Beau Bridges, and frankly some of the character motives/moves etc weren't well fleshed out.I still recommend this, the majority of the acting, scenes, mood, etc are worth-while.**1/2 outta ****.
A Gimmick, Not A Movie (Possible Spoilers)
posted on 08 Aug 2009I rented this movie, partially because of a sibling telling me about the book it was based on. I haven't read the book, so my expectations were not based on anything. I started watching the movie and it seemed interesting: George Clooney sarcastically dealing with a good-natured goof Patrick Tully (Tobey Maguire) for a driver. I thought, "OK, these two will investigate/partner up to find out the mystery behind the story and it will be funny but also suspenseful and good." Instead, it turned into crap really quickly. Tully is an unseemly character? But why? What is his motivation for doing that? What is anyone's motivation is this movie? Why is George Clooney's character without a gun (I know they were trying to make him like a film noir lead, but I would think he would learn to have a gun at some point). The movie is just a gimmick to show a B&W movie but with foul language and nudity and violence. I left half-way through it because it wasn't getting any better. I came back to see the husband of Cate Blanchett (Lena)'s character get found by Lena, get killed and thinking that this was where the movie would end. Instead, it messed around for about five minutes only to rip off Casablanca at the end.If you get a chance, check out the book because it was actually better than this (or at least from the premise I was told and some of what I heard, it sounded more compelling). Someone should tell Steven Soderbergh and his screenwriter to re-read the book or better yet, actually like the source materials he's basing the movie on. Only a few people could do movies on books that stray from it and still be good (M.A.S.H., Catch-22, The Shining for examples). This wasn't.
Fabulous Retro-Noir
posted on 06 Aug 2009As of the time of my evaluation (which was a 10), some 26% of recorded viewers had given this movie a 10, and almost 18% a "1". Which clearly meant that this disturbing work was not for everyone. I think the "females under 18" (cf. demographic breakdown) have got it right, with their collective 9.3 (so says a "male over 45" (:=)). This is a masterpiece of Retro-Noir, with absolutely fantastic cinematography, great score, gripping storyline with step-by-step resolutions, and solid all-round performances from the cast, though the only genuinely Oscar-worthy efforts are by Blanchett and Weigert. Why then so many "1's" or even "3's" and "4's'? As to the latter, I suspect it's plain idiosyncrasy: to criticize "The Good German" because it "reminds one of other films" is akin to dismissing "Chinatown" because of "The Big Sleep" or "Platoon" because of "Apocalypse Now". The numerous "1's" are a more delicate matter, probably due to overblown political correctness on the part of older viewers. Cate Blanchett is a potent "femme fatale", a most original motivational study by film noir standards. But her character's crimes coupled to her film identity are simply too heavy for some people of a prior generation to swallow. There's nothing to be done here, I'm afraid. There were indeed such Lenas, and denial won't make them go away.
Wonderful Film Noir
posted on 04 Aug 2009Before I go further, let's get it out up front that I love the '40s noir style, both in film and literature. "The Good German" captures that style perfectly, including a Casablanca-esquire closing scene at an airport, black & white film, and the use of a 1.33:1 "Academy" aspect ratio. For me, it all workedI thought that George Clooney was perfectly cast, as was the always marvelous Kate Blanchett. Squint your eyes and you can see Bogie and Ingrid Bergman. I was particularly impressed by Blanchett's mysterious beauty with a dark secret, maybe more than one. By the way, the always amazing Robin Weigert (Calamity Jane in Deadwood) as the hooker, Hannelore, blew me away. She created a remarkably interesting character in very little screen time. As usual, she was virtually unrecognizable.This movie is not for the unwary. It is a dark exploration of the ambiguous nature of the choices the United States had to make after Germany surrendered in 1945 as to whether to punish the war criminals among Germany's rocket scientists or conceal their crimes and give them a pass in order that they could come to work for us. At times, therefore, the movie is a little hard to take. Still, it presents mature subject matter for viewers who are not afraid of being required to think and are willing to forego a Hollywood happy ending. Highest recommendations for film noir buffs, but those who are not may think less of it than I do -- 8 out of 10
Did ANYBODY read the book?
posted on 25 Jul 2009This movie is a complete distortion of an excellent book, which I happened to read when I was in Berlin. Characters are combined, distorted and outright eliminated. Sure, it's filmed in film noir style. Big deal. Without character motivation, consistency and background, this film is a total waste. The acting was wooden, the music was melodramatic, the dialog was lame, and the plot was utterly incomprehensible as filmed. I urge anyone who has some interest in reading a great mystery that was researched thoroughly and written in a suspenseful way to get a copy and check it out. I loved this book - I hated the movie. Give it a miss.
Thick romantic drama...and George Clooney.
posted on 19 Jul 2009War secrets, blackmail, double-cross and intrigue. Its 1945 Berlin, and U.S. war correspondent Jake Geismer(George Clooney)arrives to cover the upcoming conference of Allied Leaders in Potsdam. This peace conference will deal with the fate of a newly liberated Europe and whats left of Germany. Geismer is no stranger, he once was the bureau manager of the Associated Press. His jeep driver is Corporal Tully (Tobey Maguire) a charming small-town American that is charming as he is ruthless...corrupt and a player in the black market. Everything and everyone has a price. Jake is not too concerned with Tully's activities, but is concerned about his girlfriend Lena(Cate Blanchett), his former secretary and lover. When Tully is found floating dead in the river with a major amount of German money in his pocket and near the peace conference site...his secrets lead to those of Lena's and this leads to Russian, German and American authorities all scrambling for damning information. The answers are in the shadowy rubble of war-torn Berlin.Filmed in glorious Black & White and blended well with newsreel sequences. Scenery and acting are impressive. Also in the cast: Dominic Comperatore, Jack Thompson, John Roder, Ravil Isyanov and Dave Power.
Truly a Masterpiece! !! Stunning Drama.
posted on 05 Jul 2009The Good German is a complex film that deserves a much higher rating that its being given on this forum. Soderberghs attention to history is so evident throughout this film. Cate Blanchett studied many of the great German actress ,Marlene Dietrich in particular, and it shows in her performance, her mannerisms and body language are spot on. Her character Lena Brandt has survived the devastation of the War, but her soul has been transformed in many ways. What we're following is a once passionate women that in her own personal struggle for survival, forged ties with the dark side ,just to have an existence at all, in a country that's in utter desperation and ruin. George Clooneys performance is commendable and his character is classic film noir. The recreation of postwar Berlin is fabulous and the black and white film does it wonders, as do the 1940's style cameras this film was shot in. There are many plot twists and turns and it makes for a great story. A must see film.
Homage or Pastiche?
posted on 19 Jun 2009I'm not sure about the answer to my question. With its stylistic nods to 40's noir thrillers like "Notorious", "The Third Man", "Gilda" and at the end, "Casablanca", "The Good German" aims high but ultimately falls flat under the weight of an incomprehensible plot peopled by too many characters. Moreover, none of said characters evinces any sympathy so that as the body-count mounts up towards the end and even as Clooney and Blanchett remain standing to take their relationship who knows where, ultimately you don't really care either way, distracted as you are by the various cinematic reference points - I even detected an in-joke at the expense of "The Pianist". The film is beautifully shot with many attractive framing and tracking shots in luminous monochrome, but the acting quality is distinctly mixed, with Clooney never quite achieving Joseph Cotten standards as he takes hits from almost everyone in sight and Blanchett struggling to emote beyond her sub-Deitrich accent. Tobey Maguire seems to me altogether too typecast in his winsome underdog parts ("Spider Man", "Sea Biscuit") to wholly convince as Clooney's somewhat callous, duplicitous driver who gets in too deep and you don't believe Blanchett's even thinly-veiled attraction to him either. I did enjoy the nostalgic tricks employed by Soderburgh, for example the left to right dissolves between scenes and the musical motifs which accompany the various characters but there are also too many shots of Clooney walking off-shot, or tossing away a cigarette or worst just gazing into space. All told, you'd be better off renting out one of the source movies mentioned above to see how it should be done.
Take 1 part Casablanca & mix with 2 parts Third Man
posted on 09 Jun 2009It's not that I desperately disliked this film, it's just that i've seen it all before. I'm a huge film noir fan and I generally take Steven Soderberg's name attached to a project as a good thing. So it's fair to say I was expecting quite a bit from this film.Two of my favourite films are Casablanca and The Third Man and judging by this film it's the favourite films of Steven Soderberg & Paul Attanasio. The film isn't bad and it is fairly enjoyable but only if you haven't seen either of these aforementioned classics before.I would liken the experience to going to one of those 'Classics For Kids' music recitals where they play classical music from well known adverts. People enjoy the performance and it encourages them to listen to more classical music. That's how this film was for me.It should probably come with a final shot saying 'If you enjoyed this picture, you might also enjoy these titles....' Judging the film purely on its own its pretty decent. It's hard to judge the film on its own merits when so much of it borrows from other films, from the soft focus shots of Cate Blanchett to the dialogue 'you should never have come back to Berlin'.Clooney is as watchable as ever, good solid performance but you can't help but feel he's doing Soderberg a favour. Blanchett seems to be playing Marlene Dietrich for the entire film and Beau Bridges plays Beau Bridges. Tobey Maguire however just winds me up, I don't understand the Hollywood A-listing of Maguire. None of his performances have ever enthralled me, this is no different.To sum up, if you've never seen any film noir before then give it a go. If you love your classic,moody black and white thrillers, give it a miss.
Fantastic Movie!
posted on 28 May 2009I saw The Good German last night and was totally surprised. The critics have been blasting this movie consistently so I was expecting a well intentioned movie but not a good movie. What I saw was not only a well intentioned movie but a GREAT movie! I wonder if the critics were shown the correct movie??? Nothing that I have read corresponds with what I saw last night.What I saw was a beautifully filmed and acted film that does capture the "old days" of film. The story was a wonderful surprise. It is rare when a movie adapted from a book is as good as the book. In this case, the screenplay is BETTER than the book. I won't spoil too much, but I will say that major plots were changed from the book, for the better. Do not hesitate to go to see this movie. I wouldn't wait for the DVD because seeing The Good German on the big screen is quite a wonderful experience.
A real yawner! Dull script....cinematography weak at best
posted on 26 May 2009I really wanted to like this film. I have always found the noir style appealing, but when the script is weak and the characters unlikeable as is the case in this very slow film, that noir style only adds to the tedium of the experience. I'm no photography expert, but the cinematography also has a very amateurish "look" like the film was developed at Walgreens. Nothing like the "look" of classic noir films. This is true right up to end of the film where the movie closes with a laughable imitation of the closing scene of "Casablanca," airport, trench coats, fog machine and all. Really, really bad! Some in our audience were actually laughing at this point. This scene alone took this movie from C- to D-. George Clooney never seems like Capt Geismer, he only seems like George Clooney in costume. George, you are gorgeous, but as an actor you are exceedingly dull. Unfortunately, you are as uninteresting on screen as Al Pacino, Humphrey Bogart, etc are interesting. George, go back to "Oceans Eleven" where you are at least somewhat believable. Cate Blanchet, I thought, was surprisingly poor as Lena. Somber to the point of depressing, she was an unlikeable and uninteresting character (and for some unknown reason, Cate seemed to "squint" throughout the entire movie, maybe that helped generate the unconvincing accent). Poor Cate seemed to be doing an almost comic bad imitation of Marlene Dietrich, but Cate really reminded me of Cloris Leachman as Frau Blucher in "Young Frankenstein" - Cate was soooo "serious" she came across as doing a comedy bit imitation. The best part of the film was the first few minutes...some very interesting original shots of the devastation of post-war Berlin. Unfortunately, this only lasted 5-10 minutes and gave way way to the devastation of a bad, dull script.
Excellent story telling in the post World War II tradition of THE THIRD MAN
posted on 26 May 2009The best film to evoke the period in recent memory. Blanchett and Clooney lead a strong cast and make a better film than expected from the novel's source material. Archival newsreel footage of 1945 Berlin and black and white cinematography put to very effective use. Toby McGuire as a self-serving, mean spirited weasel shows another side of the usually boyish charmer. Beau Bridges well cast as the US army brass who bears a self-righteous similarity to contemporary military higher-ups who think they have a corner on deciding the right thing to do. Secrets, lies, love and intrigue woven together to form a provocative study of moral ambiguities and tough choices in wartime. Highly recommended.
Still interesting, if over-ambitious
posted on 20 May 2009In true noir-ish fashion, much of the intrigue with The Good German is about to whom, and why, the title applies. For a film that has so much devotion to being a 40s recreation or homage, and in spite of another mesmerising performance from the very talented Cate Blanchett, it is also a mystery as to why it is not more of a runaway success.Employing the grainy black-and-white look of Good Night and Good Luck, only more so, The Good German is a formal exercise in original 40s technique. It uses as its subject 1945 Berlin and the nightmare scenarios of post-war safety. Blanchett plays Lena Brandt, a Jewish German, who attributes her amazing survival to being the ex-wife of an SS man. (She claims he is dead, by the way). Her boyfriend is the violent and abusive Patrick Tully, engagingly played by Tobey Maguire. But haunting her life is also good-guy George Clooney, in the shape of US Captain Jake Geismer. They go back a long way. In more than one sense, to put it delicately. He is disturbed to see her turning tricks as much as he is to see her hanging out with a low-life like Tully.Lena wants to get out of Berlin, but that is easier said than done. Our film is awash with intrigues as everyone individually tries to help her, but everyone also schemes against each other. Who is a war criminal and who is just an ordinary German? Understandably, no-one wants to be caught with their pants down, and everybody is in Lena's.Lena herself plays her cards very close to her chest. She only reveals her hand towards the end. As she takes over centre-stage, her story provides some tension and emotional ballast to a plot that is otherwise a bit lifeless. Disappointingly, the usually capable Clooney is the weak link in the acting. His usually charismatically chirpy, cheeky style seems anachronistic and makes him look both typecast and mis-cast. The part could have been written for Humphrey Bogart. There and many thematic and visual references to Casablanca. But Clooney's lack of gravitas highlights the film's stylistic weakness. The Good German is ponderous without conveying a seriousness of the subject matter and so ends up just seeming self-important.Beautiful noir-ish chiaroscuro lighting is a delicious hearkening back to more substantial classics of old. But, with the exception of Lena, the characters lack the moral ambiguity that was so characteristic of such films. Jake mentions, "the good old days - when you could tell who was the bad guy by who was shooting at you." But, although the line could have come out of the mouth of Bogart, it refers to a period and style of film-making that is a world away from what this tries to be.Lena (Cate Blanchett) is a mystery, and the film is worth seeing for this magnificent, towering performance, that is also a study in emotional complexity. Long-suffering, she oozes oceans of repressed emotion in a way to make Ingrid Bergman proud. Although more complex than female protagonists of 40s movies, she is still the most successful part of the whole homage.The story does have a little more subtlety than one might have expected, but I find it hard to imagine vast audiences wading through it joyfully until the pace eventually picks up enough to warrant serious interest. It's good to see the usually very capable Steven Soderbergh directing serious cinema again (instead of his Ocean's Eleven romps) but this over-ambitious project doesn't quite cut it. See it if you're a fan of Blanchett, or if you enjoy seeing Clooney getting beaten up.
David Jeffers for SIFFblog.com
posted on 06 Apr 2009Synthetic NoirThursday, December 14, 7:00pm The Guild 45thSet in post-war Berlin on the eve of the August 1945 Potsdam Conference, 'The Good German' stars George Clooney as Captain Jacob 'Jake' Geismer, an Army correspondent who becomes entangled in the murder investigation of his driver Tully (Tobey Maguire), and the real truth behind Lena (Cate Blanchett), a beautiful femme fatale. Despite director Steven Soderbergh's use of vintage optics and sound equipment, his earnest attempt to recreate the look and feel of nineteen forties film noir is nothing more than a well schooled exercise in technique. Blanchett (almost always exceptional) strains to summarize the noir heroine, while intentionally blown out contrast, a black and white image filmed on color stock (sorry guys, it just doesn't look right) and every obvious noir cliché, right down to a DC-3 on the airport tarmac with it's engines running in the final scene, serve only as distractions to an already threadbare, forgettable story.
A great tribute to film-noir
posted on 03 Mar 2009On recent years,we have seen movies which try to emulate the visual or narrative style of past decades.They started as creative exercises made by cult directors to specialized audiences but now we can see many famous or acclaimed filmmakers doing the same for a massive public like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez with Grindhouse or Steven Soderbergh with The Good German which is a great tribute to the film-noir in the 40s.In spite of having some false moves in his career(like Erin Brockovich or Ocean's Twelve),I admire the way in which Soderbergh orchestrates his career.He does some major Hollywood movies in order to win some economical and creative credibility to endorse his experimental movies which are always interesting and fun(like Solaris or Full Frontal).The Good German is one of that experiments.The film has an excellent story which has some ingenious things and the visual spectacle is amazing.The film has villains(the Nazis)and heroes(the North American people).But when the film advances we can see the morality of both groups is not too different.So,this film also makes us think and I think that's great.George Clooney and Cate Blanchett are excellent on their roles.Tobey Maguire's performance did not convince me too much and that's the only fail I found on this movie.The Good German is a fascinating experiment and a great tribute to film-noir.
Thoughtful and thought-provoking.
posted on 25 Feb 2009I had seen very mixed reviews for this film, from reviewers who seemed to be saying that they did not really understand what the film was trying to say. I do wonder sometimes whether reviewers have actually seen the piece about which they are writing. The "look" of the film was completely convincing and evoked accurately the horrendous conditions in Berlin at the end of World War II. I wasn't sure about the casting of George Cluney, but the rest of the acting was very plausible. Most importantly, it presented the viewer with evidence of the timeless moral dilemma "when does a mature compromise, become a moral sell-out?" Worked through at both the international, national and personal level this should have forced any viewer to ponder long and hard about how they would have behaved in such circumstances and what the appropriate judicial response should be. I would recommend this film, provided that you are prepared to think.
Soderbergh missed the mark
posted on 19 Feb 2009So many aspects of this film gnawed at me, leaving me with the feeling throughout the whole movie that Soderbergh had missed the mark. Silently, I kept thinking, "he got it all wrong." The film noir look in an attempt to capture the essence of Kanon's novel lacked the heart and soul of his work. The characters appeared lifeless, their personalities subdued as if necessarily neglected to maintain the moral ambiguity throughout the movie and to demonstrate America's selfish post-war agenda. But it's through the complexity of characters, their unambiguous passions and actions, that makes the moral ambiguity more dramatic. I should have felt the same passions and struggle that Jake Geismar felt when he was challenged to see what he did not want to see and to suspend judgment on the insidious behavior of the characters around him, including the woman he pined for. I should have felt the same struggle in Lena Brandt's attempt to find congruity between her past and her basic goodness, a light in her that Jake refused to let die. Without this tension it was too easy to judge the characters. Lena was a desperate woman and Jake a maverick, with little more needed to explain their personalities. Perhaps too much footage ended up on the cutting room floor. Also Tully, played by Toby Maguire, was a bad boy who's purpose in the plot was limited to portraying the arrogance, greed, and violence propagated by the post-war lack of law and order. But his role was overemphasized and the very likable Maguire was not convincing. Both Maguire and Clooney's contemporary acting clashed with the noir look and feel. At the end, nothing stuck - neither the plot nor the characters. About the only thing that resonated after viewing the film was Blanchett's performance.
The Good German
posted on 09 Feb 2009The Good German The versatile director Steven Soderbergh has carved a niche for himself with his style and bringing together good star-cast – remember Ocean's series? The Good German has George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Tobey Maguire (Spiderman). This was enough for me to choose to see this movie.The story is about an American military journalist Jacob (George Clooney) who comes to Berlin after the World War II and gets entangled in a mystery of Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett), her husband Emil Brandt, and her lover Patrick (Tobey Maguire). As audience it takes a bit of time to understand several characters and plots; and what is going on in the movie. The movie becomes much tighter in the last 20 minutes but by then Steven has lost the score.The irony of the movie is depicted by a line told at the end of the movie by Cate Blanchett, something like – "…at last the puzzle is now solved!" I think Steven understood that the movie was too over the top and must have forced this line on Cate to give the audience a clear message that the movie is over now! Steven also provides a special tonal value to his screen canvass. This time he comes with a black and white 1930's look to this movie, with high contrast. The musical score also is lifted from the same era. All the actors have acted well and no special mention is required of any outstanding actor. Some studio set scenes are prominently visible in the film, which should have been avoided.I was expecting a better movie and it did not fit to my expectations (Stars 5.5 out of 10)
Good German, So So Film
posted on 22 Aug 2009This film desperately wants to be the new "Chinatown"--a stylish noir murder mystery that unmasks secrets of individuals and governments. They even name Clooney's character "Jake" (Jake Gittes was the detective in "Chinatown")Despite the use of black and white, 1940's lenses, old style music, old style framing and integrated footage from 1945 Berlin shot by Frank Capra among others, "The Good German" is a failure, but a good attempt.Clooney seems to be walking through his part as the film's star, a war correspondent who's in Berlin to cover the Potsdam conference but is actually just looking for his old girlfriend. He's no Bogart. Toby McGuire is shrill and hard to watch as his crooked driver who's involved in the black market. As far as Kate Blanchett goes, I just don't get it. She's a fine actress and all, but is not the kind of Ingrid Bergman-esquire beauty (or even Faye Dunaway in "Chinatown") I think this film required. People who hate Clooney (I don't) might like "the Good German" for the fact he gets beat up not once, not twice but three times in this film (once even by the tiny McGuire!) while others might like the attempt at giving this film an old time look. Others might resent the obvious homage to "Casablanca" in the film's closing scenes.But forget it, Jake. It's NOT Chinatown.