65
Metascore
7 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreBye Bye Germany makes for a sly, smart, funny and still touching peek into that horrid past, a dramedy with pathos and a reminder that “L’chaim, to life” is the best way to remember it — with a toast to life. In the end, that’s the best revenge of all.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisSan Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisA formidable exercise in storytelling. Even at the end, when the inevitable goodbye toast occurs, there is a twist awaiting us.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyUltimately, even if some secondary characters and plotlines are underserved, the strength of the story and the emotional range of the experiences depicted prevail.
- 70Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinLos Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinBye Bye Germany is a deeply felt yet unsentimental, often wry look at a group of Jewish friends — all Nazi-era survivors — who, in 1946 Frankfurt, unite to sell high-end linens to raise the funds to emigrate to America. Not your typical Holocaust-inspired drama.
- 70Screen DailyLee MarshallScreen DailyLee MarshallA little too jaunty and picaresque at times, Bye Bye Germany is nevertheless, when it hits its stride, an entertaining, watchable take on the oppressed-minority-comeback genre (“We’re the Jewish revenge”, as one of the salesmen bitterly quips), shadowed at every turn by an unspeakable horror.
- 70Village VoiceKaren HanVillage VoiceKaren HanThe story digs deep enough that the cheese Garbarski lays on at the end feels well-earned. It’s a charmingly made film.
- 50VarietyJessica KiangVarietyJessica KiangThere’s a storybook complacency to Garbarski’s filmmaking (indeed the literal translation of the German title is “Once Upon a Time in Germany”) that gives us the impression that all this is snow-globe history, put away behind glass on a shelf somewhere.