‘Bad Times at the El Royale’ Review: Sleek, stylish, and slightly hollow
If Pulp Fiction, Hateful Eight, Lost, and Room 104 had a stylish, retro, film noir baby, it would be Bad Times at the El Royale.
Drew Goddard, who previously cut his teeth writing for such series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alias, and the aforementioned Lost, and who also directed 2012’s sleeper hit The Cabin in the Woods, has concocted a slick and glossy ensemble thriller that benefits from a darkly spunky script and solid performances by an all-star cast. I’m just not sure it’s going to be a film I ultimately will remember in about six months time. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed it while it was happening in front of me, and some scenes were absolutely spellbinding, but could have benefited from a bit more editing considering its robust 2 hour and 22 minute run time.
The El Royale Hotel is a retro relic of the past that straddles the state lines of both California and Nevada. You could say that the hotel stands as a metaphor for all of the customers that walk through its doors on one fateful night in 1968, as it’s divided right down the middle of two opposite states (pun intended), and is full of scandalous secrets of its own. This ragtag group of mysterious guests includes affable and forgetful Father Daniel Flynn (played by an unforgettable Jeff Bridges); a conspicuously charming and chatty salesman, Laramie Seymour Sullivan (Jon Hamm), intent on staying alone in the honeymoon suite; an edgy, no-nonsense hippy named Emily Summerspring ( Dakota Johnson) who is lugging around her sister, Rose (Cailee Spaeny) like cargo; and soft-spoken, struggling soul singer Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo), who may just have the most honest intentions of anyone at the deserted resort. Rounding out this rather colorful bunch is the innocent and fidgety bellhop/host of the El Royale, Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman), with a tragic history of his own; and then there’s late check-in by dangerous cult leader Billy Lee – who will essentially have no real secrets by the film’s end given the ample screen time given to Chris Hemsworth’s scenery-chewing performance in the latter half of the film.
The film unfolds like an onion having its layers slowly and methodically peeled away, except each layer is a different room with a different tenant with different motivations for being at the hotel. Goddard introduces each new character in with Pulp Fiction-style chapters, identified in white letters against a black screen only as a room number as a stand-in for the story of each tenant. Of course, none of the customers is what they seem. You could literally put “who isn’t quite what they seem” appended to the end of each of my character descriptions and you’d have the gist of the entire movie. Of course, when you put this amount of characters with questionable motives into a confined location for long enough, chances are things will start to go horribly wrong. And they do, as everyone’s different goals being to play at odds against each other.
The first two characters we’re introduced to are Father Daniel Flynn and Darlene Sweet, who form an unlikely friendship early on that gets tested consistently throughout the film. Both Bridges and Erivo have a warm, friendly chemistry on film, and its when their mutual trust is tested that the emotional stakes are highest in the film. We all know that Jeff Bridges and his exquisite head of hair are hard to go toe-to-toe with in any film because let’s face it – the man is a legend. But virtual newcomer (to the film world, at least) Cynthia Erivo infuses Darlene with the spirit of someone who has a gentle heart that’s been hardened over the years by rejection, both professionally and by being a black woman living in the 60’s. Goddard also makes use of Erivo’s angelic, Broadway-trained singing voice, which punctuates some very key scenes, and makes them all the more mesmerizing. Some of these scenes are a touch too long, and the singing at times seems like it just won’t end, but that’s no fault of Erivo who adds a heavy dose of authenticity to every scene that she’s in.
The other players do solid work – particularly Hemsworth who seems like a slithering, caged animal set loose in a role that seems to combine Max Cady from Cape Fear and Jim Morrison in his prime. If that wasn’t a thing before, well, it is now. Hemsworth’s Billy Lee is basically the ultimate foil to all of this madness, and the film spends a bit too much time letting him strut around pontificating culty non-speak and freaking everybody out with his armed goons. But once again, that’s no slight to Hemsworth who seems to just keep on proving his versatility in each film he’s in. Surprisingly, the other notable performances for me come from newcomer Cailee Spaeny who injects Rose with enough dead-eyed creepiness for it to linger for a minute after the credits roll, and Lewis Pullman also stands out for his doe-eyed portrayal of Miles, who is a welcome splash of innocence and vulnerability to this crew of hardened souls.
While there are several scenes and performances that are truly inspired, and the film on the whole is very entertaining, this may not be a film that you remember in six months. You’ll run into it on Starz in March or something and say “Oh yeah, I remember liking this a lot!” then proceed to leave it on in the background while you nerd out on the internet and shred all of your mail. And then you’ll look up every once in a while, and say, “Oh yeah, this is a really cool scene” or “Jeff Bridges is a god”. Which is perfectly fine! If you were a fan of Lost, Hateful Eight, or Pulp Fiction, you’ll appreciate it even more, given the subtle storytelling methods Goddard uses to tell his twisting, non-linear tale from multiple perspectives. That in itself is quite fun to watch unravel, especially given the spot-on production design, costume design, and score, but I predict it won’t live in my thoughts into Awards Season.
So, if you’re a fan of super stylish, retro film noir – or any of the shows or films that Goddard has been involved in in the past – then you will most likely walk away satisfied, if not blown away. But if you feel like saving your money and waiting for it on cable, I can assure you it will be an awesome accompaniment to all of your at-home mail-shredding activities.
