| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Daniel Brühl | ... |
David Kern
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| Hannah Herzsprung | ... |
Marie
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Henry Hübchen | ... |
Jacky
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| Kirsten Block | ... |
Karin Kohler
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| Peter Schneider | ... |
Ron Keller
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Henriette Müller | ... |
Sabrina
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Simon Eckert | ... |
Roger
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Alexander Khuon | ... |
Ralph
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Godehard Giese | ... |
Tobi
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| Richard Sammel | ... |
Riegler
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Stefan Ruppe | ... |
Rolli
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Ulrich Voß | ... |
Everding
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Torsten Michaelis | ... |
Inspizient
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Oliver Bröcker | ... |
Junger Händler
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Marie Gruber | ... |
Buchhändlerin
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A waiter finds an unpublished script in an old nightstand and claims it to be his own in order to impress a girl. The author of the script appears and wreaks havoc on the waiter's life before he comes to realize the consequences of his actions.
The film deals with identity and fame, and there's a sense of tension and awkwardness throughout much of the film, not limited to, but personified by Bruhl's character David Kern.
There was a lot about the film which I enjoyed, but several aspects of the film really didn't fit in terms of tone: clumsy, after-the-fact attempts to present the film as a romantic comedy (which it definitely isn't).
To give a few examples: several of the songs used in the soundtrack were much lighter and sunnier that the scenes they were matched to; the final scene of the film fit so poorly it was little short of schizophrenic (by which I mean the last 15 seconds or so). In a similar way the posters used to advertise the film are completely mismatched with the content of the film.
It was only relatively recently that I read the book that this film was based on ("Lila, Lila" by Martin Suter). Having enjoyed the book so much, I knew I would watch the film more critically than otherwise.
To finish on a positive note, I found Daniel Bruhl's interpretation of David engaging and I actually really enjoyed the plot variations in the film as opposed to the book.