The Good German - C-

Recently released on DVD. Rated R!

In July 1945, a military journalist (George Clooney) returns to Berlin to cover the post-war segregation of Germany between the Allies. But he's really there to find a former lover, a married Jew, played by Cate Blanchett. He gets involved in a murder mystery filled with plot twists and double-crossings.

One of the many reasons Steven Soderbergh makes "Ocean" films is so he can make experimental films like Full Frontal, Bubble, and The Good German. The "novelty" here is using the same techniques they used in 1945 for a film based in 1945. This has previously been done (successfully) by the Coen brothers with The Man Who Wasn't There and the classic 1985 Moonlighting episode "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice". Here, Soderbergh mostly rips off Casablanca. In addition to the love triangle plot, Soderbergh directly steals classic shots, camera movements, and utilizes similar swiping and pacing. The trouble is, in Casablanca, you get: "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine." In The Good German, you get: "This whole go#%amn country, she winds up f&#king my f&#king driver."

Finally we get the answer to the questions, "What if Rick Blaine owned a strip club, cursed like Jake La Motta, and got his ear bitten off in a fight?" and "What if we got to see Rick and Ilsa doing the dirty deed?" There are no likable characters (or humor) to be found and the plot is overly convoluted. Tobey Maguire is horribly miscast as the aforementioned driver. Not surprisingly, Cate Blanchett fares much better, channelling Marlene Dietrich. The great composer Thomas Newman can hold his head up high, but this is an unpleasant, misconceived mess. C-

Special note: This completes the trifecta crapfest of 2006 "Good" films (German, Shepherd, and Year).