Max

MAX (2002) *** John Cusack, Noah Taylor, Molly Parker, Leelee Sobieski, Ulrich Thomsen. Filmmaker Menno Meyjes' audacious yet non-offensive examination on the colossal What If of all time: What if Adolph Hitler continued his path into a career as an artist instead of a genocidal madman? Based on facts and an amalgamated character in the form of Max Rothman (a never finer Cusack in one of his best ‘adult' roles to date) a WWI vet who has returned to his Munich based art dealership minus a limb with an ever-gnawing question: What now? Enter problematic young artist wannabe and fellow German war vet Hitler (Taylor in a tricky yet full-force to be reckoned with turn) insisting his friendship with the tormented Rothman to the limits (and the beginnings of the end for history). The film is a tad bland in some areas however the prickly wonderings of what may have been make it all the worthwhile.