Intriguing drama about a American spy in Germany stumbles
after WWII ends. Nick Nolte stars as Howard Campbell, a playwright
living in Germany in the 30s. When war seems imminent, a mysterious
American (John Goodman) recruits Howard to become a spy. Howard
begins a series of radio broadcasts, where, as "The Last Free American",
he launches an anti-American, anti-Semitic diatribe. Encoded in
his speeches, however, are secrets he broadcasts to the Allies.
He manages to survive the war, but America refuses to recognize his
role (in case they ever need to use similar methods again). Howard
moves to New York under an alias, but fifteen years later,
he begins to use his original name, convinced that no one will
notice or care. However, he is wrong. Soon he is being pursued
by neo-Nazis (who want to follow him), and the Israelis (who
want to try him for war crimes). It is in this portion of the film
that the story takes a largely divergent turn (thanks to author Kurt
Vonnegut). Mother Night actually works better when it is somewhat
serious, and if it could resolve itself in a consistent tone, the
film would be much improved. However, once the film goes off track,
it careens recklessly into blatant farce involving, among other things,
a black Nazi, the reappearance of people thought dead, spies, counterspies,
and a lot of unneccessary extra plot. There are a few divergent
amusements here, but Mother Night is trapped by its framing device (the whole
story is told in serious flashback), and so when the farce tries to
go straight again, we are in for another jolt, and left to question if
it was worth the ride.
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