‘Bad Times at the El Royale’ seems never-ending, but it’s never boring

Straddling the California and Nevada borders on Lake Tahoe, as well as interpersonal moral dilemmas, “Bad Times at the El Royale” is a hotel stay without a checkout date.

I’ll be honest — I loved this drastically laborious movie. My boyfriend, however, found it so boring that he left and took a phone call instead.

Drew Goddard wrote, produced and directed the film. Goddard is known for writing and directing “Cabin in the Woods,” and he also wrote for “The Good Place,” “Daredevil,” “The Martian” and “World War Z.”

Born in 1975, Goddard resurrects an era of cult leaders, Vietnam-rooted PTSD, suspicious surveillance and widespread paranoia.

Set in the late 1970s, the film follows a priest (Jeff Bridges), a singer (Cynthia Erivo), a vacuum salesman (Jon Hamm) and four other strangers as they enter this once-glorious hotel to bury their dark pasts.

Through spectacular performances and facial cues, audiences get the sense that something isn’t right when a hippie (Dakota Johnson) struts in carrying live cargo in the trunk of her car. Or perhaps it’s when the singer (Erivo) has suspiciously bumpy bedrolls and refuses to let the others help her with it.

Told in traditional Tarantino fashion through nonlinear storytelling, there is never a dull moment in this film. The plot is wildly chaotic, with secrets begging to be unveiled in each scene.

Including a killer soundtrack (literally), the only thing missing from this movie is a sense of urgency.

This American neo-noir thriller relates audiences to its characters in the most static of ways. You can feel how torturously slow-moving the plot is as each character gets increasingly anxious about their stay. However, the setup of the movie alienates viewers as much the characters, preventing any connection between the audience and the cast.

Nonetheless, the film’s style is one that many moviegoers are not used to seeing, making it an instant classic.

Opening the Rome Film Festival and closing the San Sebastian Film Festival out of competition, “Bad Times at the El Royale” had critics and viewers alike anxiously awaiting its theatrical premiere.

“‘Bad Times at the El Royale’ is a sophisticated, intelligent, ironic, surprising and elegant film,” said Antonio Monda, artistic director of the Rome Film Festival. “Within the great tradition of the noir, Drew Goddard magnificently directs a splendid cast, reveling in the revelation of the protagonists’ secrets, but above all granting us the pleasure of true cinema.”

Scoring a 7.6 out of 10 on IMDB and securing a “Certified Fresh” rating of 75 percent out of 114 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, “Bad Times at the El Royale” is a movie worth seeing.

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