Synopsis
In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caught out after curfew. While waiting for the German Kommondant, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast about Russian troop movements. Returned to the ghetto, the shopkeeper shares his information with a friend and then rumors fly that there is a secret radio within the ghetto.
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Cast
- Robin WilliamsJakob Heym
- Liev SchreiberMischa
- Hannah Taylor-GordonLina Kronstein
- Alan ArkinMax Frenkfurter
- Michael JeterAvron
- Bob BalabanKowalsky
- Armin Mueller-StahlProf. Dr. Kirschbaum
- Éva IgóLina's Mother
- István BálintLinas's Father
- Mark MargolisFajngold
Recommendations
- 67
Entertainment Weekly
Of course, there's still the Williams schmaltz factor. - 60
Washington Post
But the best thing about Jakob the Liar is that it's not "Patch Adams at Auschwitz." - 50
San Francisco Examiner
More altruistic would be if Williams stopped torturing us with weepy endearments so he could look for that complex clown who used to mug just for laughs. - 50
Chicago Sun-Times
I prefer "Life Is Beautiful," which is clearly a fantasy, to Jakob the Liar, which is just as contrived and manipulative but pretends it is not. - 50
Miami Herald
Flat and forced, Jakob the Liar aspires to be a poignant parable about the power of hope but instead uses one of humanity's greatest tragedies for trite melodrama. - 40
Austin Chronicle
Feels sterile and chilly; the humor -- Yiddish and otherwise -- falls flat, and sadly so does the film. - 38
New York Daily News
An awkwardly executed, tedious and -- a near impossibility for a Holocaust movie -- emotionally uninvolving bore. - 38
New York Post
A particularly gross exploitation of the Holocaust for financial gain.
