"Herr Lehmann" is a German 105-minute movie from almost 15 years ago and probably the most known work by filmmaker Leander Haußmann. The script comes from Sven Regener who also wrote the novel that this film is based on. I am not too familiar with most of the cast here. Christian Ulmen is pretty famous of course and Germans know Detlev Buck as well from acting and directing. And finally Uwe Dag Berlin and Hollywood superstar Christoph Waltz play minor characters. Buck won a German Film Award for his performance here and Katja Danowski who plays the female with the most screen time was nominated for one as well. 2003 was a good year for German films in terms of contents that have to do with the GDR and the Fall of the Berlin Wall ("Good Bye Lenin"). But is this really what "Herr Lehmann" is about? One may think so with the ending, but basically the 90 minutes before that have almost nothing to do with it, even if it is set in West Germany shortly before the Fall. Or maybe they wanted to tell us that it just wasn't a big thing at that time at the other side of the Wall? I am not sure.
Anyway, I am not sure either why this movie has garnered such positive reception. I rarely found it memorable, almost never. Ulmen proves again that he is charismatic, but he is not a great actor. Then again the script gives him little to work with. Instead it never manages to decide if it is a comedy or a drama and does not deliver convincingly in any of these 2 areas. It certainly is not worth seeing either for the historical context as the ending may be good, but it has little connection to everything that happened before. The performances are bearable, but nothing that stays in the mind either. As a whole, I was pretty disappointed by this movie. I certainly expected something better, especially as I kinda like Ulmen as a comedian. As an actor though, he still has to wow me. I do not recommend checking out "Herr Lehmann". Thumbs down.
Anyway, I am not sure either why this movie has garnered such positive reception. I rarely found it memorable, almost never. Ulmen proves again that he is charismatic, but he is not a great actor. Then again the script gives him little to work with. Instead it never manages to decide if it is a comedy or a drama and does not deliver convincingly in any of these 2 areas. It certainly is not worth seeing either for the historical context as the ending may be good, but it has little connection to everything that happened before. The performances are bearable, but nothing that stays in the mind either. As a whole, I was pretty disappointed by this movie. I certainly expected something better, especially as I kinda like Ulmen as a comedian. As an actor though, he still has to wow me. I do not recommend checking out "Herr Lehmann". Thumbs down.