"An affair has more rules than a marriage."

Both of us had been looking forward to The Good German - Brandon because of his Clooney fixation, and me because I thought it looked very interesting stylistically. I had read that they really went for period authenticity throughout, even down to the film making elements. In that aspect it was quite a success. It was visually stunning and all of those parts, including the sets and costumes, were gorgeous. However, the story was a bit bland and convoluted for me. I found myself to be bored a lot of the time, to the point where my mind would wander and I had to reign it back in. Brandon was surprised that it was more of a mystery than a war movie, so although it was set against the backdrop of wartime it really didn't fit into our theme all that well. This was a welcome surprise for him, though, because he loves that kind of movie. The one thing that didn't ring true for him was seeing Clooney get beat up so easily over and over. He's a pretty strapping guy, so it was difficult to suspend disbelief enough to see that without being distracted by it. He said, "Tobey MacGuire is a shrimp. Clooney should have mopped the floor with that punk." We both thought all of the actors were wonderful, though, and as always Clooney and Cate Blanchett were very enjoyable. For me, Clooney is always very Clooney no matter what time period the movie is, but Blanchett is such a chameleon. A couple of times I forgot it was her. She could easily have been a huge star back in the 40s as well.