Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) * *

Directed by:  Drew Goddard

Starring:  Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Chris Hemsworth, Dakota Johnson, Lewis Pullman, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny

Bad Times at the El Royale is an uneven exercise in style and viewer frustration.    There are stretches in which it threatens to work, but then is dragged down again.    The movie runs two hours, twenty minutes and it easily could've been ninety minutes if not for:  Three Cynthia Erivo-sung cover songs which the film stops dead in its tracks to hear, unnecessary rewinds of scenes so we can see them from other points of view, and a series of long, drawn out speeches.    It is not a good practice to introduce character backstories two hours into the running time either. 

The El Royale is a shady, mostly vacant hotel which sits on the California/Nevada border.    This fact doesn't enhance the story any, except to see characters walking on the painted-on state line like a gymnast gingerly stepping on parallel bars.   We first see the setup, and it is at least intriguing for a while:   A man enters the room and proceeds to bury a bagful of cash underneath the floorboard.   He is soon shot dead and we fast forward ten years to the early 1970's.    The empty hotel is now descended upon by guests who Are Not What They Seem To Be.   There's a forgetful priest (Bridges), a down-on-her luck singer (Erivo), a curt, profane young woman (Johnson) who we later see has kidnapped her kid sister (Spaeny), and a seemingly friendly Southern salesman (Hamm) who hides secrets of his own.    The only staff member on duty (and that is using the term loosely) is Miles (Pullman), who looks very uncomfortable while introducing the guests to the hotel's amenities. 

So far, Bad Times at the El Royale at least keeps me involved, until we learn about the hotel's logistics and what nefarious things may have gone on there previously.    We hear Erivo's rendition of "This Old Heart of Mine" while one of the characters snoops around spying on the other guests.    Then comes the now trite filmmaker style of stopping a scene at a crucial point to jump to another story, knowing full well the movie will circle around to the scene to fill in the blanks.    It is here where I started to want to jump off the train.    Playing with chronology was fresh back around the time of Pulp Fiction, but now it is old hat.    It is a lame attempt to inject style when it isn't needed.  I would've preferred a straight-ahead chronology and for the plot's surprises to unfold naturally.

I won't reveal what the plot has in store and I neglected to mention Hemsworth's Billy Lee, who preens around with his shirt unbuttoned like an early 70's rock god like Robert Plant or Jim Morrison.    He is a sinister cult leader who descends upon the hotel due to his connection to two of the guests.    This sets up a tense, violent showdown which at first works, but like the rest of the movie drags on too long and all effect is lost.    I liked the performances without really caring about the characters the actors portrayed.    Once all of the chips are on the table and all of the secrets are unearthed, I was not much stirred.    I instead felt that I sat through a movie which could've told the same story much more efficiently if it wanted to.    Although, truth be told, I don't know if that would've made the story any easier to watch.   It just would've gotten me out of the theater quicker.