Merrick here...

Ugarte sent in a look at Steven Soderbergh‘s THE GOOD GERMAN, disagreeing with Uncapie’s previously published, less-than-stellar assessment.

As hard as I try, I can’t shake the notion that this film isn’t gonna shake out so well. I want to be wrong because I dearly love World War II & retro filmmaking (check out the fabulous splash page HERE). Alas, this report from a recent screening doesn’t do much to bolster confidence.

We’ll see when THE GOOD GERMAN opens December 8.

[It should be noted that Ugarte makes a point of dissuading viewers from seeing this film's December competition (ROCKY BALBOA, THE PURUISIT OF HAPPYNESS). While this may genuinely indicate Ugarte's personal taste, it will undoubtedly raise a few eyebrows and prompt accutations of chlorophyllic activity...]

Here’s Ugarte...

Gentlemen:

I've never submitted a review to AICN before (wasn't even sure who to submit it to) and I don't know if this will ever see the light of day, but here goes:

Saw a screening of The Good German as a part of a double feature with Casablanca at LA's New Beverly Cinema. For those who don't already know, it's the new one from Steven Soderbergh starring an actor perhaps best remembered for his role as George Burnett in the seminal 80's NBC Sitcom, the Facts of Life – of course I'm talking about Mr. George Clooney. These were the waning years of Facts when there were half as many girls and they were all twice as fat. I'm not going to come right out and say anything untoward was happening on the show, but perhaps one Hannibal Lecter could learn a thing or two from ol' Tootie, Jo and the girls….all I'm saying.

Anyway, I digress. The film also stars Tobey Maguire and Cate Blanchett. I've seen Cate in what…like 10 movies? And I swear she's had like 15 different accents. Amazing. This time she tries on a kind of weary Marlene Dietrich number which is appropriate because her character is German….is she the Good German? Well, I'm not going to say. That would be one of those spoilers I hear so much about. In fact I'm not going to say much more about the plot at all because A) those parts of movie reviews are always really boring and B) people are paid millions of dollars to make these movies and they don't need some stooge like me stealing their thunder by spilling the beans on all the good parts. You don't need that either. Trust me. (I've tried to keep this next blurb as spoiler free as possible but if you're at all worried, skip ahead to the next paragraph and you won't miss anything.) All I'll say is the film is a mystery that unfolds in WWII Germany just after the Nazis have surrendered and the Americans, British and Russians are in town to carve up the spoils. Clooney plays an Army war correspondent who has returned to Germany to report on the Potsdam peace conference. Blanchett is his former secretary, now a prostitute and her boyfriend is Tobey Maguire, a US Army motor pool driver up to his ass in the black market. To thicken the plot a little, there's a German scientist everyone would like to know the whereabouts of. Got it? Good because I've already said too much.

The important question is: Is the picture any good? First let me disagree with a previous AICN reviewer and say HELL YES. That's all you need to know. You can go forth in peace now and see the movie when it comes out. Seriously. Get off the internet and go see the goddamn movie.

Well, if you need convincing, I'll try and explain why:

As you may have heard, Soderbergh went to great pains to recreate the look and feel of a film made in the late 40's…albeit one that contained actual screen violence and made occasional use of the word "fuck". This means a black and white picture, obvious process shots, pre-method acting styles, a narrower aspect ratio than we're accustomed to seeing (though not as extreme as real 1.37:1 Academy aperture), a more bombastic scoring style and stagier sound design.

His devotion to the aesthetic was not slavish (as evidenced by the Fucks-n-Violence) but it was distracting at first. It took me a few minutes to get used to it and some folks probably never will. It's a make or break proposition for the film. Personally, I'm a huge fan of that period of cinema and once I bought into what The Good German was playing at, I bought in 100%. Other people are going to hate it for the same reasons I liked it. I'll grant you the leads don't pack the charismatic punch of Hollywood stars of the 40's and 50's, but in fairness, actors aren't groomed that way anymore. The good ones aren't trained to be charming; they're trained to be real. It's a very different thing and it's one area I'll admit the film may have come up a bit short. I still really enjoyed the performances though. Tobey Maguire was more like Venom than Spidey…if Venom's uniform was US Army issue and Peter Parker lived in 1946 that is…Cate Blanchett was terrific as always and even ol' George Clooney seemed to dig into his bag of tricks and disguise his usual ticks and mannerisms he brings when he's being the 21 st Century Cary Grant. He wasn't reinventing the wheel here but I guess having a villa on Lake Como gives one the confidence to try out a few new things. Full disclosure: if I could be any one person besides myself right now, it would probably be Clooney so this may have clouded my perception of the movie a teeny bit.

Anyone who has seen the poster for the movie knows The Good German owes a thing or two or four or eight to Casablanca. I would argue that it's not a rip-off. It does indeed play homage to that classic film but it's not a carbon copy. Tonally it's very different. I'd say it's kind of the dark shadow of Casablanca where everything is turned upside down – this am Bizarro Casablanca, if you will. Clooney is the Bogart character, but instead of being a cynical individualist who ends up making a huge personal sacrifice for the good of the world by the end of the film, he starts out as an action man and a truth seeker who may not like the answers he finds. Blanchett is the Bergman character but instead of a dutiful wife she's a whore with a dark past. Maguire is the Claude Raines character, but instead of a wily, self-interested schemer who turns out in the end to have a heart of gold, he's a wily, self-interested schemer who turns out in the end to have…well…no heart at all really. As for the Paul Henreid character, instead of being an altruistic resistance leader, he may be guilty of war crimes. Similar dynamics are at play, but the characters are different and so is the end result. I found it fascinating and entertaining.

To quickly summarize: The Good German was an interesting experiment that worked great for me but isn't going to be loved by everyone, even people who generally like Soderbergh. I still say do yourself a favor and go see it when it comes out anyway instead of say Pursuit of Happyness or Rocky Balboa or whatever other dreck happens to be playing your local Cineplex at the time. The filmmakers are shooting for something interesting here. Something worthwhile. Whether they succeeded or not is open to debate, but I think they should be rewarded for trying. The film clocks in at a brisk hour and forty minutes or so, so what have you got to lose?

I see someone already used the name Strangelove some years back so if you use this, call me: Ugarte.