Udo Kier had a colorful career, appearing in boffo Hollywood flicks, artsy European ones, Exploitation Horror, and Madonna music videos. Whether people are fans of 1973’s Flesh for Frankenstein, 1991’s My Own Private Idaho, or The Kingdom miniseries, among many others, they will have seen Kier on screen either at the forefront or in a memorable cameo. He even played Adolf Hitler in 1989’s 100 Jahre Adolf Hitler and the Hunters TV series, which My Neighbor Adolf might be playing off.
There are still a few posthumous credits to come in Kier’s career (still waiting for his last video game role in OD). But My Neighbor Adolf, written and directed by Leon Prudovsky (Like a Fish out of Water 2007, Five Hours from Paris 2009), alongside Dmitry Malinsky (Max & Millie series, Motherland series) on the writing side, was already done and in the can back in 2022. It is just that people could only see it if they were attending 2022’s Locarno Film Festival, or in Israel and Poland via its production companies, 2-Team Productions and Film Produkcja, respectively. Everywhere but the US, it got limited releases or popped up on streaming platforms.
But it has now reached American shores, debuting in theaters on January 9, 2026, and on Blu-ray on February 10, 2026. As the title suggests, it follows a man who suspects his next-door neighbor is more than he appears. In the 1930s, Marek Polsky (David Hayman: Sid & Nancy 1986, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas 2008) was a happy family man. Then the Holocaust came and took that away. By 1960, he was living alone, spending his days gardening and playing chess in the Colombian countryside. That is, until a man called Herman Herzog (Kier) moves into the house next door.
After SS officer Adolf Eichmann was found (and subsequently captured) in Argentina, Polsky suspects more Nazi war criminals may have escaped to South America, and that Herzog might be the biggest one of all: Adolf Hitler, living under an alias after faking his death. Nobody believes him, but he is sure he is right. He just needs more evidence, which means spending more time with the suspected ‘Führer’ himself.
It is a multilingual picture, with the cast switching between German, Yiddish, Spanish, and English depending on who is speaking in each scene, and English subtitles. So, the movie might not do much for people who prefer dubs. But it may suit people who like their comedies dark and reasonable. Given it is basically what people would get if the notorious BBC sitcom Heil Honey, I’m Home switched neighbor roles and played the premise straight instead of parodying ’50s TV shows.
In that, for much of the first act, the movie is basically about a grumpy old Jewish man whose peace is disturbed by his German neighbor. His garden workers are loud and obnoxious, his dog keeps getting into his yard, and his representative (Olivia Silhavy: Woman in Gold 2015, A Rose in Winter 2018) has a land dispute that threatens Polsky’s black roses. Given what the black roses represent and who Herzog might be, the laughs take on a tender edge.
The movie really kicks off once Polsky starts investigating his neighbor, as he goes full Pepe Silvia, complete with Rear Window-esque observations from his window and comparing Herzog’s behavior to the notes he gathers from his Hitler literature (“greyish-blue eyes…outbursts of anger…only one testicle”). Particularly as Kier’s Herzog is quite similar to the Führer, even if they had to Photoshop Kier’s brow over Hitler’s to make Polsky’s recognition scene hit harder. At least it was not AI-generated.
Still, Polsky’s shenanigans do get a laugh as he tries to get the evidence he needs, with Hayman performing them with aplomb. On his own, he does a neat portrayal of a traumatized old man, sympathetic for what he lost, though funny in how his urge to expose Herzog goes overboard. Kier’s Herzog is deliberately more enigmatic, with some good chemistry with Hayman as their relationship develops.
It is rather suspenseful as the mystery thickens, as their antipathy threatens to become less ‘anti’. There are even a few good lines outside of their battle of wits (“Drink your coffee, Mr Polsky. It’s traditional Israeli…Turkish!”). That said, if viewers like their Dark Comedies pitch-black and twice as bitter, this movie might not give them what they are after.
Compared to 2010’s Four Lions, 2017’s The Death of Stalin, and others, it is rather mild. If anything, it is more between 1967’s The Producers and The Odd Couple. There is a slight edge, though beyond that, a spot of nudity, and a few swears. My Neighbor Adolf is almost light enough for viewers to watch with their grandparents. For all the grim topics it touches upon, it is arguably one of Kier’s more cuddly films.
Which is not, in itself, exactly a flaw. My Neighbor Adolf is well shot, with good visual storytelling to complement the verbal, building suspense with the laughs and neat character interactions, particularly between Hayman and Kier. Some might even find it oddly heartwarming, as it is ultimately more of a grey Comedy than a black one. Still worth a watch, Cryptic Rock gives My Neighbor Adolf 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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