Good (2008)

34% of critics liked it
(67 reviews)
36% of users liked it
(41,251 ratings)

Viggo Mortensen and Jason Isaacs star in this period drama set in 1930s-era Germany, and detailing the ways in which an otherwise "good" man can be slowly seduced by dark forces. John Halder is a professor of literature. When he's not teaching, most of John's time is dedicated to looking after his… More Viggo Mortensen and Jason Isaacs star in this period drama set in 1930s-era Germany, and detailing the ways in which an otherwise "good" man can be slowly seduced by dark forces. John Halder is a professor of literature. When he's not teaching, most of John's time is dedicated to looking after his neurotic wife, tending to the couple's two young children, and caring for his elderly mother, who suffers from senile dementia. Disheartened by his mother's downward spiral, John authors a novel supporting euthanasia for the terminally ill. Much to John's surprise, the Nazi party singles out his tome as the "way forward," and soon begins to heap flattery on the author in the form of glowing compliments and extravagant gifts. As a result, John finds himself making a variety of minor moral compromises that soon begin to snowball. As his moral compass becomes less and less reliable and music manifests in John's conscience at the most inopportune moments -- such as the time a Bavarian boy choir bursts in as he's attempting to seduce a young lover -- the author begins to question his own motivations while also taking pause to consult with his best friend, a Jewish psychoanalyst named Maurice (Jason Isaacs). Unfortunately for Maurice, the situation is quickly worsening for the Jews of Germany as John continues his ascent in the party ranks. While John does everything within his power to save Maurice, the risks involved in truly removing his old friend from harm's way may already be too great for the morally compromised author to consider. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 35 min.
Directed By: Vicente Amorim
Written By: John Wrathall
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Sep 8, 2008 Wide
On DVD: May 1, 2009
Studio: ThinkFilm

Critic Reviews

David Edelstein, New York Magazine
The subject -- self-deception and failure of nerve in an unjust world -- is too messy and horrible to laugh away.
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
Good contributes very little to a conundrum that has occupied historians and psychologists for half a century.
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
Good has a stagy fustiness, but it's worth seeing for Mortensen, who makes this study of   a 'good German' look creepily contemporary. He shows us the horror   of ignorance.
Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine
Morally speaking, everything about Good is tidily correct. But it is more a predictable parable than a full-fledged narrative.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
There are some striking locations and certainly the era continues to fascinate audiences (and, particularly this year, filmmakers). Too bad, then, that this is such a disappointment -- awkwardly directed and flatly scripted.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
We know just what each character will do, and exactly where each path will lead. And we're never wrong.
Leo Goldsmith, indieWIRE
Bears a superficial resemblance to "The Conformist" and "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis," with their sense of dreary complacency, oppressively museum-like spaces, and curiously drab natural settings, but ultimately "Good" is less evocative
Allan Hunter, Daily Express
A tale illustrating the banality of evil is as timely as ever but the execution is heavy-handed and even with location filming and elaborate sets it still feels very theatrical.
Chris Prince, Sky Movies
Ultimately Good, like its central figure, seems to lack the courage of its convictions.
Angie Errigo, Empire Magazine
A strong cast and good starting material doesn't manage to save this unsuccessful adaptation.
Dave Calhoun, Time Out
By all accounts, Taylor's play was a more experimental piece than this film, in which the production values, like the acting, veer between the acceptable and the stodgy.
Richard Luck, Film4
Not for the first time, great theatre makes for a merely adequate film.
Wendy Ide, Times [UK]
It's a thought-provoking theme, which is rather let down by a thoroughly unconvincingly turn from Mortensen.
Andrew Pulver, Guardian [UK]
To its credit, Good is at least a piece with something serious to say, with little of the meretricious responsibility-deflecting that The Reader dealt in.
Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
We're gearing up for a clunker of a climax involving musically gifted interns at the world's sprucest concentration camp. Mortensen wears it well, but this feels like very old hat.
Ali Upham, Total Film
Good's attempts to diagnose the cancerous spread of Nazi influence through Germany's population in the mid-'30s is laudable, but despite Mortensen's stoic talents Halder is just too hollow a character for this to be anything other than a vapid parable.
David Edwards, Daily Mirror [UK]
The point is how does a "good" man get seduced by evil? Thing is, the movie's so muted and keeps viewers at such arm's length, you cease to wonder.
, Sun Online
It is a fine piece of acting from Mortensen, who portrays his character's weakness superbly. But Good sometimes lacks pace and direction. On balance this is an intelligent and sensitive approach to a very dark era of history.
Nigel Andrews, Financial Times
It may have been a good stage play: people say it was. But its author, the late C.P. Taylor, was not around to stop it becoming a lousy film.
Anthony Quinn, Independent
Mortensen isn't bad, though he looks merely absent-minded rather than anguished.

Read all 23 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Cynthia S

Viggo is an amazing actor, and this subject is definitely my favorite subject. But, for some reason, this movie just didn't hit the the right notes for me. Really slow. Rather confusing (at least to me). A decent idea with not much substance, in my opinion.
Sophie B

I was extremely dissappointed by this film. It lacked an edge to it. It just seemed like I was following this random guys life during a difficult period in his country. It showed a lot about character and how normal innocent people of Germany really didn't know what was going on.… More
I was extremely dissappointed by this film. It lacked an edge to it. It just seemed like I was following this random guys life during a difficult period in his country. It showed a lot about character and how normal innocent people of Germany really didn't know what was going on. The ending was atrocious and so dissatisfying. Great performances and a cast that should have made this film much better.
Curtis L

While there were many problems with the film, I have to like it because it affected me so much. Excellent cast makes it better, but I will agree that it lacked structure and conviction. I always enjoy a fresh look at WWII era, and the perspective of a good German caught up in the… More
While there were many problems with the film, I have to like it because it affected me so much. Excellent cast makes it better, but I will agree that it lacked structure and conviction. I always enjoy a fresh look at WWII era, and the perspective of a good German caught up in the times is always welcome. I appreciated what I at least interpretted as the the message of the movie: that amidst all the horrors in these times, no matter how much any of us lie to ourselves that what we are doing is okay and right, it is so far from the humanity inside us that the guy was seeing beauty in the form of music in the most horrible of places.
Carlos M

Despite its admirable intentions, it lacks enough dramatic power and strength in its intended message about evil and conformity - and Mortensen's unconvincing performance doesn't do much either.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "Good," it is 1933 in Berlin where John Halder(Viggo Mortensen) not only has the responsibilities of being a literature professor but also the head of a contentious household that includes two children, his tubercular mother(Gemma Jones) and his… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "Good," it is 1933 in Berlin where John Halder(Viggo Mortensen) not only has the responsibilities of being a literature professor but also the head of a contentious household that includes two children, his tubercular mother(Gemma Jones) and his neurotic wife Helen(Anastasia Hille). He now has the amorous attentions of a beautiful student, Ann(Jodie Whittaker), to distract him. No wonder he is in psychoanalysis with his best friend Maurice(Jason Isaacs). Through all of this, somehow he finds enough time to write a novel which in four years' time will come to the attention of the Nazi leadership because of its handling of euthanasia. Their only problem with him is that he is not yet a Party member.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Good" is about a Faustian bargain which is nothing new when it comes to the Nazis. In exchange for his soul, John loses his old problems and his old family, and gets a promotion and a beautiful young wife. What the Nazis get in return is an intellectual who is willing to promote ideas they agree with. All of which puts John's friendship with Maurice to the test which is the moral center of the movie. For that reason, the chemistry between Viggo Mortensen and Jason Isaacs lifts the movie above the purely routine. [/font]
Greg A

The fucking Nazi bitch, that is the first thing I think about this movie when it comes to the new woman of Viggo's character "the professor." It is odd to think that peer pressure could change a man with such subtle grace from a gorgeous mind to a tool to be used by the… More
The fucking Nazi bitch, that is the first thing I think about this movie when it comes to the new woman of Viggo's character "the professor." It is odd to think that peer pressure could change a man with such subtle grace from a gorgeous mind to a tool to be used by the S.S. to make them appear legitimate. I got off track for a moment, the professor is essence of human rights, he is a good man but is used in the most of awful of ways and it is the chronicling of his own loss grasp on his connection to humanity in the form of his Jewish friend Maurice Israel who remains an angry voice of reason to the professor. There is a dreamlike quality to this film in which I feel lost in a forest of something moving much faster than I can get a grasp on. I doubt that the professor could even get a grasp on the brutal reality of what he joined in joining the S.S. as a consultant that he was to be used to the full extent of the title S.S.
Nikki M

Such a sloooow movie....