ViewGuide

Created Sep 09, 2010 09:40AM PST • Edited Sep 11, 2010 11:27AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   OK 2.5

   A farcical feast at the table of contemporary Germany, Soul Kitchen’s recipe exceeds its ingredients, especially its barely OK screenplay. Seeking to satire the landscape of today’s melting-pot Western society, it ends up as little more than amusing and ultimately tiring. Still it’s worth seeing if only for the food, though the foodie sections are sadly outweighed by the insipid romantic, family and political comedy.

4. Acting

   OK 2.5

5. Male Stars OK 2.5

6. Female Stars OK 2.5

7. Female Costars OK 2.5

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

10. Film

    Good 3.0

    Writer-Director Fatih Akin struck gold with The Edge of Heaven, his Golden Palm nominated drama. Cheers to him for trying comedy with Soul Kitchen. Now he should return to drama, having proved yet again the theatrical aphorism that “Dying is easy; comedy is hard.”¹

    ¹ Attributed to Sir Donald Wolfit

11. Direction Good 3.0

12. Play Barely OK 2.0

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Good 3.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.3

17. Sex Innocent 1.3

18. Violence Gentle 1.0

19. Rudeness Polite 1.5

21. Reality

    Glib 1.2

    Contemporary Hamburg presents as a smug Left Wing enclave.

    • “Worldwide Terrorism” T-shirts pass for clever irony. This from Mohamed Atta’s alma mater city.
    • “Food racists” screams the offended chef at the benighted customers who don’t favor his creations over their beloved schnitzel. “Racists” now seems to be the all purpose, all occasion left wing epithet.
    • Capitalists are represented with all the subtlety of Snidely Whiplash, whereas hip clubbers and slackers float in economic zero gravity, screaming at the capitalist pigs in between complaining of no health insurance.
    • German-Turk filmmaker, German-Greek stars, Blond-Blue-eyed Aryans living in substantial homes and driving hot Audis: apparently that’s Germany today.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.5

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0