Stadtgespräch

Originally produced for German TV this charming little comedy was released nationwide instead and turned out to be a surprise hit at the box-office.

Though by no means a classic, it's nevertheless a silly bit of fluff, often foolish, sometimes downright dull but overall entertaining stuff.

All actors show admirable flair, even Miss Riemann underplays admirably. Best of the crop: Moritz Bleibtreu as dull but attractive gay lover of Riemann's brother and Martina Gedeck as the wronged wife, who finally got her revenge.

The great soundtrack features Della Reese's all-time classic rendition of 'It's so nice to have a man around the house'.

I first saw this movie at the Directors' Guild in Hollywood at a gay film festival, and it was shown with subtitles. It was well received by the audience, few of whom probably understood German, but the subtitles were sufficient to convey the humor. I liked it so much that I searched quite some time for a DVD and finally found one at amazon.de, and I ordered it from Germany. I have a code-free DVD player that will play European DVDs, and so I was not concerned about being able to play the DVD. However, the DVD contained NO subtitles, and so while I was able to understand the dialog, it was lost on my brother, who does not understand German. I found it very curious that no subtitles at all were included in the DVD, especially since they were done for the theatrical release.

If you want to see this movie, try to find it at a film festival, unless you speak German. It's quite delightful, and I liked the lightheartedness of it. It's not like many of the other German movies I've seen and has rare comic appeal that may be more interesting for American audiences who are less familiar with contemporary German culture.