Bad Times at the El Royale

Bad Times at the El Royale, a 2018 film written and directed by Drew Goddard, seems like an exercise: make a film, using mostly one set, that is a rip-off/homage to Quentin Tarantino. In that it succeeds, but otherwise this film only touches on Tarantino's worst qualities--it's overlong, relies too much on pop music, has bizarre moments and ultimately says nothing about life.

The El Royale is a hotel on the California-Nevada border near Lake Tahoe. It is literally on the border, as the border runs straight through the lobby. A grab bag of guests check in, each of whom is not who they seem: Jon Hamm, as a verbose vacuum cleaner salesman, Jeff Bridges as a priest, Dakota Johnson, who bursts into the hotel, writes "Fuck You" in the ledger, and turns out to have someone else in the trunk of her car, and the only real person, who becomes our heroine, Cynthia Erivo, as up and coming singer (the action takes place in the '60s).

Note that the poster features a character played by Chris Hemsworth who doesn't even appear until the final act of the film. No spoilers here.

Each character is revealed before they die (a few make it out alive). The hotel is a "pervert hotel" (was Goddard inspired by the documentary Voyeur, which is about a real place like this?) that has two-way mirrors and microphones that allow peeping for purposes of blackmail. The desk clerk (Lewis Pullman) has kept one of the films made, which features a famous dead person who I can only imagine is one of the Kennedys. That, and in one of the rooms is buried a satchel full of money from a bank robbery.

Bad Times at the El Royale has its moments, but is entirely too self-conscious, with its multiple views of the same scene, and its unsentimental killing off of characters. At 140 minutes, it's about a half an hour too long, and the performances are not sharp. Even Bridges comes off as a parody of himself, and Hamm is called upon to overact like a demon. It has not yet been proven that Johnson can actually act.

So, if you like Tarantino manque, you'll adore Bad Times at the El Royale.