A Journalist of Jewish descent in Berlin feels that he is a loser of the political changes in Germany after 1989. When his mother dies, he has to meet his brother to whom he has not talked f... Read allA Journalist of Jewish descent in Berlin feels that he is a loser of the political changes in Germany after 1989. When his mother dies, he has to meet his brother to whom he has not talked for years and to meet all his other family members. But during the preparations for the fun... Read allA Journalist of Jewish descent in Berlin feels that he is a loser of the political changes in Germany after 1989. When his mother dies, he has to meet his brother to whom he has not talked for years and to meet all his other family members. But during the preparations for the funeral he plays a snooker-cup for paying his debts with the money for the victory, and many ... Read all
- Awards
- 8 wins & 10 nominations total
- Janice
- (as Ghada Hammoudah)
- Ukrainer Matzjak
- (as Juri Rosstanlnji)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
Since the Shoah, there has been a perception among the majority of non-Jewish Germans that Jewish people in this country have to be treated with velvet gloves in every respect. This perception is strengthened further by the fact that due to the small number of Jewish communities in Germany, many non-Jewish Germans don't know Jewish people personally, thus creating an abstract image of easily offended Jews who have to be treated with utmost political correctness.
This movie by Dani Levy puts things into perspective again, demonstrating that despite the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany against the Jewish population, one nowadays is allowed to laugh about curiosities caused by Jewish rituals like problems in keeping the household going during Shabbat or about other Jewish/non-Jewish incompatibilities without breaking a taboo. Both Jewish and non-Jewish stereotypes are equally poked fun at in this movie, and with its intentional and charming political incorrectness and spot-on irony on this complex and sensitive matter, it is hilariously funny and an absolute must-see! I am convinced that this movie will help bring relations of Jewish/non-Jewish Germans to a more normal, more natural level, based on more mutual understanding. But even for those not looking so much for a movie with a message, but rather for an evening highlight of clever entertainment and big laughter, this is an ideal choice!
9/10
There are two ways to approach making such a movie. Rely on character comics, but here you need to be quite careful as a movie dealing with Jewish characters risks to be considered as too offensive if they pedal too much on this line. Although a lot of stereotypes are present I did not find them offensive at all (yes, I am Jewish), actually it's more the gay and sexual allusions that some may find more visible and doubt there good taste. The other approach would be to deal more with the political theme, but here the film is just a pale social commentary, and it never gets even close to the subtlety and human dimension of a film like 'Good-bye, Lenin'.
Unfortunately by choosing the middle of the road the director condemned the film to mediocrity, and instead of good laughs it's mostly polite smiles all along. It's not that good comedy scenes are completely missing, but I could not escape the feeling that the premises of the movie are better than the outcome, and that if the authors had chosen a more definite line, or just dared to be more crazy the result would have been better.
This film might not be 100% brilliant, but it's funny, it's very good and worth its while and money. Originally made only for Arte TV, they decided to get it into cinema first. And what a great idea this was! Hopefully more films like this will follow, so that we all can go another step on the way back to normal. Because it is normal to see black German characters, Turkish-German characters and Jewish German characters and what else in films and series and plays. So, writers, sit yourself down and write. Directors and producers are hopefully waiting for good scripts! They better be...
Storyline
Did you know
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Go for Zucker: An Unorthodox Comedy
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $87,490
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $2,130
- Dec 11, 2005
- Gross worldwide
- $8,466,803
- Runtime1 hour 35 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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