Bad Times at the El Royale review: A protracted crime thriller with a cumbersome screenplay

As it runs out of steam, the film seems more and more like pastiche Tarantino

Jeff Bridges gives the stand-out performance in 'Bad Times at the El Royale' (20th Century Fox)

Dir: Drew Goddard; Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson, Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Cailee Spaeny. Cert 15, 141 mins

Bad Times at the El Royale is a protracted crime thriller with a very cumbersome screenplay that shows us the same events from multiple different perspectives, Rashomon-style. As it runs out of steam, the film, though, begins to seem more and more like pastiche Tarantino.

The performances from a high profile cast are lively enough. Bad Times is slickly shot by cinematographer Seamus McGarvey and the jukebox-style soundtrack offers up plenty of Motown favourites. The enigmatic plotting is intriguing at first but becomes increasingly frustrating and the movie, which lasts well over two hours, turns into a prolonged slog.

Almost all the action takes place in the El Royale, a once-luxurious hotel on the border between California and Nevada which is now in near terminal decay. A group of guests arrive here for reasons which only very slowly become clear. Among them is a whisky-quaffing priest (Jeff Bridges in a dog collar), a fast-talking vacuum salesman (Jon Hamm speaking in a Blanche DuBois-like southern accent), a soul singer with a gorgeous voice (Cynthia Erivo) and a femme fatale (Dakota Johnson) who signs her name as “fuck you” in the guest register. None of them are what they seem. The femme fatale’s naive but deadly sister (Cailee Spaeny) is also along for the ride. Chris Hemsworth turns up (albeit much later) as a surfer dude/cult leader with a very mean and violent streak.

Goddard’s screenplay has clearly drawn some of its inspiration from Gay Talese’s recent non-fiction novel, The Voyeur’s Motel. It too has a staff member who likes to peer in at the intimate goings-on of the guests in all the rooms. The El Royale, we are told more than once, is “some kind of pervert’s hotel”. Certain scenes are very cleverly staged. The bravura overture, in which a gangster rearranges the furniture in one of the rooms as he looks to hide some stolen cash, is all the more intriguing because it looks as if it was filmed in a single shot.

Jeff Bridges gives the standout performance. He is playing yet another variation on his crumpled, Rooster Cogburn-like old-timer but he gives the film what little charm and pathos it possesses. (One of the drawbacks here is that all the main protagonists are so unsympathetic.)

Writer-director Goddard isn’t afraid to kill off even relatively major characters. He uses every ruse at his disposal to make sure that we don’t know quite what is going on. However, the El Royale isn’t a hotel you’ll want to linger in.

Bad Times at the El Royale is released in UK cinemas 12 October