While I like anachronistic comedies and have a high tolerance for the offensive, this film certainly is not for everyone. In fact, I wonder if it's for anyone! Who would enjoy a film that purports to be a comedy but often seems like it's trying to shed a better light on Adolf Hitler--to make him a vulnerable and even pitiable man?! Sure, films like "The Producers" and "The Great Dictator" have managed to poke fun at the Nazis and Hitler and succeeded....but "My Fuhrer" is certainly not in the same league a these classics. The film is a fantasy set in January 1945--just months before the end of WWII. A Jewish prisoner is summoned from his death camp to, of all things, work with Hitler directly--and to coach him for an upcoming film. Instead of the broken man he has become, his Propaganda Minister (Goebbels) claims to want to have this Jewish acting coach help the Fuhrer to find his former strength. And so Hitler and Dr. Adolf Grünbaum work together--and in the process learn to need each other. Scenes where Hitler cries about his abusive childhood, talks about how the Final Solution wasn't really his idea and calls the Doctor his "Jewish friend" are very surreal--and in really bad taste. In another warm and fuzzy scene, Hitler visits the Doctor and his family late at night and soon is invited into bed to snuggle with them--and you think "My God--what are the film makers thinking?!?!". Sure, there's a bit more to the film than this (including a few interesting psychological insights into the man)..but mostly it's a film that seems to be saying that Hitler is not exactly the monster we all think he was--he had a 'nice' side or at least one not all that rotten. The bottom line is that this is a highly offensive and dumb film. Trying to put a nicer face on Naziism seems gross--because it is. While technically reasonably well made, it's just gross and the film is probably not worth your time unless you are VERY curious and can allow yourself to watch the film without being overwhelmed with anger as well as not mind that it isn't at all funny--which is a problem, since it was intended as a comedy. By the way, the film repeats a historically inaccurate 'fact' that many hope is true--that he's part Jewish himself. This actually was a rumor started by the British during the war to discredit the crazy leader. It is a fact we want to believe but there just isn't much evidence to support it.

Before writing my commentary, I should tell you that I went into the Movie theater not really expecting a Movie that I would call a total smash hit. The reasons for my low expectations regarded mostly the lead, "Helge Schneider". If you were unfortunate enough and saw one of his previous works you know what I probably expected. In this movie however, he proved that he actually can act. (And quite well if I may say so). The story starts 5 days before the End of 1944. Berlin is totally destroyed and Hitler (brilliantly portrayed by Schneider) is supposed to give a new years speech. The Minister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, however feels, that Hitler lost his touch. So he enlists a Jewish Professor to help him get Hitler ready for the speech. It's a long story why exactly this person is chosen, so I won't bother you with it. After being freed from the Concentration Camp he and his family (who also has been freed) he begins tutoring Hitler. The movie contains a lot of these scenes which, once again, showcase the brilliance of "Helge Schneider" (Hitler) and "Ulrich Müehe" (Prof. Adolf Israel Grünbaum). There are a lot of other small story lines throughout the movie but I am really trying to give you an Idea of what's going on in the main-story. The final Information I will give you about the plot is, that 'Goebbels' isn't convinced that Adolf Hitler can actually do what's required of him, so he comes up with another plan. So much for the story. Now for the movie. The movie is packed from beginning to end with jokes about Hitler, their need to greet themselves with "Heil Hitler" all the time, the excessive bureaucracy in the third Reich also provides a LOT of very good jokes. Well, I guess the only way for you to find out is to go to the Movie theater yourselves, which is was reluctant to do. I paid so off though, that I watched this movie. There is not a single minute in that movie where you are not forced to laugh, sometimes even out loud. I know that there is a lot of controversy surrounding this movie, but I can only say the following about it: Go and decide for yourselves. My opinion is though, that this movie doesn't take the matter at hand too lightly and shouldn't threaten anyones believes. It was time that a German Director had the guts to make a Comedy about this. Finally I want to say that this Film is by far not as tame as commented by some.

I just watched this movie in German and without subtitles (i.e., even though my German is "anständig" I may have missed a few jokes). I find it difficult to get a grip on the movie. I think it would have worked if it had been purely a black comedy but somehow the director inserted farcical elements (such as the constant "Heil Hitler"-ing and the recurring ado about bureaucratic procedures). This may have been done to attract a larger (or different) audience but it didn't exactly benefit the movie. If it had been cast in the form of a low-key but biting (black) satire it would have been a far better movie. I give it a 7 for what it could have been (if it had been a brilliant black comedy, it might have scored a 9). Interestingly, for me "Der Untergang" was never the great movie it could have been either for essentially the same reason. In my opinion, the latter movie should have focused exclusively on the psychology and claustrophobia in the bunker during the final days of the Third Reich. It could even have ended with Hitler and Eva Braun retreating. All the "above-ground" scenes were superfluous and indeed distracted from the drama that was going on below-ground. As in the case of "Mein Führer", one cannot help but wonder if this was done purely to attract a larger (or different) audience.

I went to see this film with mixed anticipation because it was said to be a comedy about Hitler; but it had the great late actor Ulrich Muehe in it, and I was intrigued by what I had read about the plot of this film: a few days before the end of the war Hitler is a nervous wreck and incapable of making the inspiring speech which Goebbels has written for him. He needs coaching by an actor, and it must be someone who can rouse him to new heights of hatred which Hitler's favourite actors are said not to be able to do. So Goebbels gets a formerly famous Jewish drama teacher, Professor Gruenbaum, released from Sachsenhausen concentration camp with the task of coaching Hitler. The acting was superb: Muehe's as Gruenbaum, of course, and also Helge Schneider's as Hitler, Sylvester Groth's as a smooth Goebbels, Ulrich Noethe's as Himmler (though it was surely unnecessary to have him have his arm strapped in a permanent Hitler salute), Stephan Kurt's as Albrecht Speer (not at all shown as the least guilty of the Nazis; and the members of Gruenbaum's family: Adriana Altaras' as his wife and Shawn Karlborg as his eldest teenage son. The production was also first class - excellent photography and absolute clarity of diction. I think the film works very well except on the several occasions when the 'comedy' ('irony' would be a better word) tips over into slapstick which really should have been cut, both from the point of view of good taste and also because I think they weaken the film. The way in which Gruenbaum gradually acquires mastery over Hitler is beautifully paced and in terms of the film is even psychologically credible. Of course Gruenbaum, urged on by his wife, should use the opportunity of being so near to Hitler to kill him, and he twice comes near to do it; but in the end of course he doesn't - too proud of his success as a coach? And how does one end such a film? The climax is well staged, but doesn't, I think, quite come off. With the reservations I have, I am glad I saw the film. There was little laughter during the showing I attended - and I think that was right and not a criticism of the film: the slapstick didn't deserve it, and the 'comedy' had of course underlying it a serious idea which forbids laughter.

Whether you will like this movie or not, will depend on your personal way to approach the subject and on your personal kind of humor. This is something quite obvious when you read the comments given so far and also regarding the controversy in the German media about the movie. Most critics for instance disgraced the movie before even having seen it, simply for making fun of Hitler. Here in Germany many people still regard laughing about Adolf Hitler a no-no, or better no-go area. To start with: I personally do not like Helge Schneider's jokes very much. Surprisingly his performance as Hitler is simply brilliant, which surprises even more knowing he's not an actor! The jokes most of the time are pretty subtle and I got carried away laughing almost half the movie. Especially making A.H.'s dog Blondie an important part of the plot was hilarious. But it helps a lot if you know how to interpret a dog's behavior. It also helps a lot to know historical details of that period in order to understand some of the jokes. Until close to the end I would have given the movie a whole 10 out of 10 stars, but the end simply didn't match the movie. Most of the time you have a feeling that it might have been like that, at least a little, but the end simply couldn't, we know so! Also that wasn't funny. The last sentences then address the critics, trying to shamefully explain why the movie was made. What on the other hand was very well made were the credits. People were asked about Hitler, what they knew about him. It started with young children and ended with the generation which experienced the time and such were the answers. The children clearly not knowing anything, simply being too young, the young and grown-up's knowing this and that, and the elders simply refusing to answer since they still deny dealing with the time, rather suppressing all memory and therefore never overcoming the experienced. And that brings us back to the critics. As mentioned above and in other comments, making fun of Hitler and especially thereby showing him as a human being is difficult in Germany. But he was a human being with all faults and weaknesses, in this movie even made-up ones. Seeing him as just that is a substantial necessity for understanding how all that could happen. Summing that up I'd recommend watching the movie unless you belong to the ones regarding the laughs as politically incorrect.

Germany 1944. As World War II enters its final stage and Berlin itself is under heavy bombardment, a worried Joseph Goebbels decides to retrieve from a concentration camp one Adolf Grunbaum, a once famous Jewish actor, so that he can train Hitler to give better speeches (???) that would boost the morale of the Germans. Or something like that. And this is just the beginning, since the movie becomes more and more absurd, as the actor becomes some sort of psychoanalyst to the Fuhrer (talk about stereotypes, the character of Grunbaum has Weak Jew written all over it). Reportedly, the director decided to make this film after seeing Downfall and feeling that Hitler and the other Nazi top leaders were respected too much in that movie. He wanted to make a comedy where Hitler would be ridiculed. One can see this intention from the start, when Hitler is shown in a grotesque makeup. Fair enough. I have no problem with a movie mocking Hitler. The problem, I see, is that the plot is offensive and ridiculous. You just can't mix the Holocaust with a comedy. The great Dictator looks terrible now, but Chaplin at least has the excuse that he filmed it before the Holocaust. To give an idea, in its "let's have a humor out of the third Reich" theme, it's as offensive as Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful. And the fact that the director of this is Jewish itself can hardly justify it. Note: playing Grunbaum is the actor who was the Stasi officer in The Lives of Others. Sadly, soon after this film was released he died of cancer.

When I heard that Helge Schneider acts as Adolf Hitler, I thought the movie would be kind of a slapstick comedy, but it really isn't. If you like subtle humor then this is for you. Dr Grünbaum, a Jew, finds himself in a dilemma between honor, pride & family. His only choice is to work with Adolf Hitler. Dr Grünbaum helps the one person that is responsible for the deportation & genocide of the Jews. It's one of those movies that you'll hate or love... I loved it and had some really good laughs. And even if you don't like the humor, it's still a good drama.

is probably the only adequate description for this movie whose main intellectual contribution is to portray Adolf Hitler as a „bedwetter, impotent and depressive". Neither the glorious beginning – the old joke based on the difference between the exclamation „Hail" and the verb „to heal" – nor the end, when the Führer is obviously not realizing anymore what Grünbaum lays in his mouth in occasion of his Big Speech - are remotely funny. However, I would by no means say that the nauseating hopping-around of the „Great Dictator" alias Chaplin was funnier. What I say, is: Put Herbert Achternbusch's „The Last Hole" finally (after almost 20 years) on DVD and observe the Nile's journey from the physician who describes him one schnapps in order to forget one Jew until his suicide in the Vulcano Stromboli, equipped solely with a war helmet, a tennis-racket and an amulet in which Last Susn has admitted him her eternal love.

Finally it seems possible for a (jewish) German film-maker to do what Mel Brooks did in "the producers": to get rid of that close-to-admiration attitude of spooky fear of Hitler and show him as a ridiculous jerk - whilst of course never denying the sad facts of history. I believe what happened seems even more tragic if Hitler is not that powerful dark monster he's shown as most of the time. This film is very courageous and will be discussed most controversially. It is the best answer to the solemn "Der Untergang" ("the downfall") and Helge Schneider (who is clearly not an actor but a anarchic comedian in Germany) did a marvellous job in thwarting Bruno Ganz's interpretation of Hitler. I'm glad that film was done.

When "Mein Führer" turned out to be the movie of the night at the sneak preview, most of the cinema moaned. I guess it was because most, including me, expected a "not-that-funny movie" on a dark chapter of German history. Rather confirming that expectation, the movie starts out with original black and white footage from that time. Yet, it turned out to be a very good comedy with a simple story, kept alive by the brilliant actors, especially Helge Schneider. And it has been the first movie I've seen that made a whole German cinema laugh about Adolf Hitler, Nazis, Jews and the jokes they make thereon. My impression is that such a movie would not have been possible to be produced by a German studio ten years ago. It would have broken too many taboos. However, that does and may not mean that we are getting to a point that Germans forget about the cruelty of the Nazi regime. People might criticize the movie especially because of the belittlement and humanization of Adolf Hitler, illustrating him partly even as a victim of his generals, mainly Göbels. Yet, in my opinion, it performs extremely well in striking the balance between comedy and reminding the audience of that cruelty of the regime, for example by inserting the very serious element of Grünbaum's eldest son. But for understanding both, the comedian elements as well as reminders of the cruelty, it is highly recommended to have knowledge of that part of German history. I hope and it is my impression that the movie sets a visual starting point for the time that German people learn to handle that history without tabooing or forgetting it.