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Bad Times at the El Royale, 2018
On a dark and stormy night, several strangers' stories overlap at a seedy hotel called the El Royale that sits on the border of California and Nevada. These include a priest with encroaching dementia (Jeff Bridges); a talented backup singer (Cynthia Erivo); a secretive, abrasive woman (Dakota Fanning); a pushy salesman--or is he?!-- (Jon Hamm); and the hotel's twitchy clerk (Lewis Pullman).
Some movies are very much I am a movie and every character in them screams I am a character in a movie!. For better or worse, this is how I felt about almost every minute of this film. And this aspect is both a benefit and a detriment to the overall impact of it.
On the positive side, the film is not at all shy about pursuing a stylistic vibe. From the color scheme to the camera movement, there isn't a lot of subtlety. Sequences play out and then we see them again from another point of view. The characters speak very much in a "writerly" way, but for the most part the actors (especially Bridges and Erivo) have a handle on it.
I had also never really seen Erivo in much before this. She was a judge on an episode of Drag Race and I was not familiar with her. (I am well aware she starred in the well-received Harriet Tubman film, but I have not seen that yet). But here I was really impressed with her. She more than holds her own with Bridges, and the two of them together give the film a human element that is desperately needs. Also, dang, Erivo can really sing.
On the down side, that "overly written" feeling left me somewhat alienated from the movie. Many of the characters feel more like pawns being moved around--surviving bullets when it is convenient, dying when it's not--and many of their fates are predictable. This isn't to say that there weren't some real surprises here and there, but for the most part I simply didn't find myself invested. Chris Hemsworth shows up later as a sort of cult leader personality, and I found myself more annoyed by his character than engaged. It doesn't help that Rose--the hotel patron who summons him--is incredibly one-dimensional. Is there any more obnoxious character trope than the doe-eyed "true believer" pixie girl who is willing to tolerate or commit violence because she loves her "leader"?
Bridges and Erivo get the most character development, and by extension they were the characters I was most invested in. But despite their solid core, the movie felt overlong to me and the last act in particular just sort of felt messy.
The movie gets points for some of the acting and some points for general style, but I can't imagine wanting to watch it again.
Bad Times at the El Royale, 2018
On a dark and stormy night, several strangers' stories overlap at a seedy hotel called the El Royale that sits on the border of California and Nevada. These include a priest with encroaching dementia (Jeff Bridges); a talented backup singer (Cynthia Erivo); a secretive, abrasive woman (Dakota Fanning); a pushy salesman--or is he?!-- (Jon Hamm); and the hotel's twitchy clerk (Lewis Pullman).
Some movies are very much I am a movie and every character in them screams I am a character in a movie!. For better or worse, this is how I felt about almost every minute of this film. And this aspect is both a benefit and a detriment to the overall impact of it.
On the positive side, the film is not at all shy about pursuing a stylistic vibe. From the color scheme to the camera movement, there isn't a lot of subtlety. Sequences play out and then we see them again from another point of view. The characters speak very much in a "writerly" way, but for the most part the actors (especially Bridges and Erivo) have a handle on it.
I had also never really seen Erivo in much before this. She was a judge on an episode of Drag Race and I was not familiar with her. (I am well aware she starred in the well-received Harriet Tubman film, but I have not seen that yet). But here I was really impressed with her. She more than holds her own with Bridges, and the two of them together give the film a human element that is desperately needs. Also, dang, Erivo can really sing.
On the down side, that "overly written" feeling left me somewhat alienated from the movie. Many of the characters feel more like pawns being moved around--surviving bullets when it is convenient, dying when it's not--and many of their fates are predictable. This isn't to say that there weren't some real surprises here and there, but for the most part I simply didn't find myself invested. Chris Hemsworth shows up later as a sort of cult leader personality, and I found myself more annoyed by his character than engaged. It doesn't help that Rose--the hotel patron who summons him--is incredibly one-dimensional. Is there any more obnoxious character trope than the doe-eyed "true believer" pixie girl who is willing to tolerate or commit violence because she loves her "leader"?
Bridges and Erivo get the most character development, and by extension they were the characters I was most invested in. But despite their solid core, the movie felt overlong to me and the last act in particular just sort of felt messy.
The movie gets points for some of the acting and some points for general style, but I can't imagine wanting to watch it again.