Why so much hype?

As Good As It Gets

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I some what enjoyed Das Madchen Rosemarie because of the following reasons: camera shots in car, plot and storyline, setting, and several characters. The storyline was great and very creative. I guess I like those blackmail movies but, there is a couple parts that I didn't quite pick up on. For example, (this could be a spoiler) near the end Rosemarie receives a call from this guy in a booth and she demands 30,000. Then she hangs up. I was wondering how does she know this man? I felt like I either missed some connection during the movie or the director just threw that in there. Several characters stood out and kept my interest. The two singing men with their act and how they always kept on following Rosemarie. Were these guys suppose to be like musical narrators because sometimes they would be singing, but you would be watching Rosemarie in a different building? Regardless they added some of the comic relief that was needed in parts of the movie. I felt that Hartog was an odd character. He seemed to be too generous that you would expect him to do things in the movie. Another great aspect of this film is the writing. Some of the lines were great and the musical lyrics were hilarious!

German director, Theile, did a great job of utilizing Hollywood with his filming techniques. The first thing that came to mind when watching this movie was ?Twilight Zone.? The camera movements, the angles, and the close-ups were very reminiscent of an old sci-fi movie. Watching Rosemarie forty-five years after it was first debuted was refreshing. There aren't many films with the same amount of character uniformity these days. Like the way in which the business men silently walked through scenes in queues. And how they all slowly drive the same car through the streets, wear the same clothes, and all have personal frustrations that Rosemarie exploited. All these traits added an eeriness to the film. The recurring, whirring sound effects of the revolving door were laughable. The two most bothersomme things were that it was obvious that many (if not all) of the street scenes were not shot on location, but rather on a closed studio set (though this made the scenes automaton-esque) and the subtitles weren't very precise to what the characters were really saying.Perhaps I have little patience, but I was ready to leave towards the middle of the movie. Or perhaps I have little patience for movies or I didn?t like the sci-fi feel. But I stayed and found myself to be intrigued with the circular ending of the film?as the final scene reminds the viewer of the opening scene and leaves them questioning, 'Will she meet the same fate'?

Das Maedchen Rosemarie was a very well-done film. It is about a call-girl,Rosemarie, who wants to move up in the world. She begins circulating withimportant capitalist business clients. Then a french client gets her to become a spy for him, and she begins to feel like she has a lot more power and influence then she really does, and becomes a threat to all of the men. In the meanwhile, all she really wants from the situation is to be an upperclass member like all of them. It's sad because, being a prostitute, she can never really be like a rich man's wife, or a member of elite society.One unique thing they did with it was to have two musicians (the two men with whom Rosemarie initially lives and works with) sing songs throughout the movie that have to do with what Rosemarie is currently doing. Their songs reflect on the current situation and foreshadow things to come. It is sort of similar to the two male singers in "There's Something about Mary," only this movie, unlike that one, is not moronic.The fim's being in black and white gives it another interesting effect. It does not have much background music, and reminds one of an Alfred Hitchcock movie inthat respect. It focuses on interesting (and altered/distorted to sound stranger) background noises like the whooshing sound of revolving doors, or the sound of an elevator going up. It also does interesting camera shots such as looking at the carpet (and the shadows of revolving doors) instead of the doorsthemselves. It reminded me of how, in Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock chose to focus on the running water, and shadows, in the famous shower/murder scene,instead of actually depicting the violence.I really liked this movie, and thought it was very well done, and somethingdifferent. Aside from the technical aspects of it, the general story-line was really good in itself, and had a strong message about capitalist germany and how the business and capitalist were taking over everything, and became moreimportant than the personal lives of less cold-hearted, business-minded people such as Rosemarie. Even though she was a prostitute, she was sort of innocent at the same time, because she could not comprehend how hopeless it was forher to wish to be a member of the upper class, and how most people were onlyusing her. She was just a luxury to them, and one more thing they could afford to buy for themselves to make their lives more interesting. They did not want for her to hold any real sway over them, or affect their lives in any way. She did not realize how dangerous it would be for her when she attempted to become a real person.

Although I came into the movie theater with high expectations for this film (which had been selected for my film class) I left a bit disappointed and a bit more confused. In short, I didn't like this movie. Artistically the movie was pleasing. The camera work was smooth and the shots were from creative angles (such as when Rosemarie visited her old domicile and the shot was of her feet walking in, somewhat showing how she was above that life now) and the scenes flowed nicely from one to the next. Content and plot-line were my biggest disappointments with this movie. Firstly, all of the characters in this film are static. There seems to be little character development in any of the characters. Each character interacts starkly with the next and neither seems to learn much from the next. Secondly, the plot-line in this movie was loose. The end of the film left many avenues open and some of the plot was not even tied together.For example, the small apartment where Rosemarie lived at the beginning of the film was not explained at all during the film. Even the men who lived in the apartment weren't explained in effect or purpose. The story also switched from being somewhat comical, to stark and realistic, to unrealistic at the end. In short, this is a well-done movie that I didn't like.