It’s little wonder that Dani Levy’s farce “Go for Zucker” has been a phenomenal hit in Germany. For one thing, it’s the rare German movie calling itself a comedy that is actually funny. More important, it addresses lingering schisms in German society with the audacity of a loud, cynical sitcom.
The movie suggests that those schisms, between East and West, between Germans and Jews, are much ado about little when the stakes are a pot of gold. In its money-grubbing ethos, naked greed in the shared pursuit of a windfall can resolve the stickiest cultural and religious conflicts.
All these conflicts are embodied by the divided family of Jaeckie Zucker (Henry Hübchen), originally Jakob Zuckermann, which came apart in 1961 when the Berlin Wall was erected and Zucker’s mother fled to the West with her firstborn son, Samuel. Left behind in East Berlin, Jaeckie shucked off his Jewish background, changed his name and became a celebrity sportscaster. But those glory days are way in the past. A compulsive gambler, pool shark and alcoholic slob who hangs out in a seedy nightclub, he finds himself nearly 45,000 euros in debt.
His disgusted wife, Marlene (Hannelore Elsner), has asked for a divorce. When he misses the deadline for a payment, his grown son, Thomas (Steffen Groth), the branch manager of a bank, shows up at his door with the police.
In desperation, he signs up for a European pool tournament. If he wins, it will solve his financial problems. Meanwhile, news arrives that Jaeckie’s mother has died. According to her will, neither he nor his estranged brother, Samuel (Udo Samel), an Orthodox Jew, can receive his inheritance unless they reconcile. With all eyes on the prize, Jaeckie and Marlene decide to pose as observant Jews and invite Samuel and his family to stay with them for the funeral and shiva. When the hated relatives arrive, they show up with their late mother’s pompous, eagle-eyed rabbi (Rolf Hoppe), on the lookout for any bending of the rules.
If “Go for Zucker” spares no one in its ridicule, Jaeckie and his stunts fuel the movie’s comic engine. To compete in the tournament and avoid sitting shiva, Jaeckie fakes two heart attacks that land him in the hospital, from which he rushes to the tournament.
Samuel’s wife, Golda (Golda Tencer), is crude and obese; his son, Joshua (Sebastian Blomberg), is a humorless zealot; his sex-crazed daughter, Lilly (Elena Uhlig), can’t keep her hands off the shy, terrified Thomas.
How much is “Go for Zucker” likely to tickle American audiences? Enough, I would guess, to generate some chuckles, but not enough to bring down the house.
*** | | “Go for Zucker”
NOT RATED|1 hour, 35 minutes|COMEDY|Directed by Dani Levy; written by Levy and Holger Franke; in German with subtitles; photography by Charly F. Koschnick; starring Henry Hübchen, Hannelore Elsner, Udo Samel, Golda Tencer, Steffen Groth|Opens today at the Starz FilmCenter.