That was exactly my reaction! Especially in the series premiere when Sydney actually dyed her hair fire-engine red. RLR was also parodied in a Lisa-centric episode of The Simpsons. The movie has definitely had at least some influence in North America.
This is one of my favourite films, and I highly recommend watching it twice - it’s even better the second time around.
I enjoyed Run Lola Run, regarding it as an existential action flick. **
It should be noted that the American release of this film was called “The Princess and the Warrior”.
Run Lola Run is the second German movie I’ve seen that involves someone screaming and breaking glass (the other was The Tin Drum). And I haven’t seen very many German movies. So, is it some weird national fetish or something?
I really like the movie that Tykwer made just before Run Lola Run. It’s called The Winter Sleepers, and it’s another, much slower-paced meditation on timing and coincidence and fate.
I’m pretty sure I’ve heard/read JJ Abrams admitting that Alias was inspired by this movie, and he deliberately referenced it several times in the pilot. Maybe in the DVD commentaries…
Anyone who liked the “existential” side of RLR should watch it. It is simply amazing.
I had a date Saturday who thought the movie was about lesbian who runs to clear her head. She was pleasantly surprised when she saw the film.
I’ve never seen Alias, but I have to imagine it was at least in part inspired by La femme Nikita.
Having seen a few episodes of Alias, i can categorically state that it’s not “inspired” at all.
It’s an overhyped fashion vehicle for a third-rate actress.
I loved this film when I saw it, although at times it was gimicky and the death of Manni in the… second permutation (I think) was met with a sigh of relief, he was a bit of a scumbag. I quite liked the freeze frame views of the future were novel, and rather enjoyed them. I thought it was a film about how the smallest changes can effect the future in infinite ways, and how a tiny shift in time can affect everyone (shown with Herr Meyer and the car crashes). I also felt the story of Herr Meyer showed how fate always catches up as in the third one, even though he avoids the other car, he hits it in the end.
Maybe it is a common motif due to Kristallnacht, the ‘Night of Broken Glass’, which, in 1938, was one of the early focused attacks on Jews in Germany prior to The Holocaust.
IMHO, probably the best Simpsons episode in the last 5 years was a spoof/homage to RLR (with some touches of Go) called Trilogy of Error, where Lisa plays the Franka Potente part, with the music and the running and the various run-ins. Extremely clever and a reminder of the Good Ole Days.
It was in the commentaries, and he’s brought it up in interviews, too. He makes no bones about the fact that he was extensively influence by RLR when making Alias. The red wig in the first episode is just the start of the various shout-outs the movie gets during the first season.
I know everyone calls this episode a spoof of RLR but really, the story structure’s completely different. Instead of one story played through three different times, it’s a single story from three different points of view. You are right, though, to say it’s the best Simpsons episode in a VERY long time!
Does it have techno music? I thought the existential tone of RLR was neat but I really liked it for the techno music…as well as Franka Potenta’s sparse clothing. 
That’s why I said "touches of Go, since structurally, it has a bit more in common with that.
But incidentally, there are lots of references to RLR in the episode (ones you wouldn’t get unless you’d actually seen the film, too).
Amazing how successful the episode writers can be when they’re genuinely inspired–the intricate plotting of the story is both ingenious and hilarious. 
Not too much I’m afraid. It is long, slow paced and has a number of rather “hard to handle” scenes (so naturally noone in the US but me has watched it). The reason the film still achieves greatness - Tykwer, Potente and the rest of the cast are at the top of their game, with a really engaging plot and an extremely high resolution camera (it looks as good Amelie). If you are gonna have to spend money to watch it - see some reviews, it might not be your thing. For free however it is about as well as you can spend 2 hours of your life.
It’s not that frequent, to my knowledge. Probably only an impression from a small sample.
You should pick up the soundtrack album if you can. It includes both the original music and a number of remixes. Great music for working out…or playing Tomb Raider, for that matter.