Hemsworth saves borderline flick
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Lewis Pullman, Chris Hemsworth
A night that goes on forever and a stay HERE is the clear-cut takeaway from the alternately intriguing and infuriating Bad Times At The El Royale: it is not here for a good time, it is here for a long time.
Doesn’t really matter much that misery reigns supreme in what is essentially a hard-boiled mystery-noir affair.
However, it does matter that it takes a big, fat two- hours-twenty to flatten all wrinkles from an already thin and papery premise.
The year is 1969 at an outof-the-way hotel on the Nevada-California border.
As the action slowly picks up, a handful of freaky guests are checking in for the night at the El Royale.
One of the new arrivals will be unwittingly staying in a room where a huge whack of stolen cash is stashed under the floorboards. Meanwhile, another of the number is scoping the right moment to break into the suite and get their paws on the moolah.
It takes a while to come together, but it gradually becomes clear that the evening will be a high-stakes lottery with the threat of instant death for the losers.
Among the contestants are suave travelling salesman Laramie (Jon Hamm), doddering priest Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges), itinerant soul singer Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo) and toughtalking Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson).
They’ll later be joined by a Charles Manson-ish cult leader named Billy Lee, played by a scene-stealing Chris Hemsworth.
If you can be patient with Bad Times At The El Royale, its flamboyantly strange closing act might still pay its way.