The Million Dollar Hotel

Here's a brief guide to help you determine if you should see "The Million Dollar Hotel"

If you...

a) Enjoy Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay collaborations b) Thirst insatiably for explosions, car chases and sex scenes featuring silicone-enhanced blondes c) Are considering this film only because you're a Mel Gibson fan...

THEN DON'T RENT "THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL"! YOU WILL LIKELY HATE IT!

Otherwise, you might want to give this one a shot. MDH is far, far off the beaten Hollywood path. It's a quiet, understated film that finds beauty and grace in very unlikely places. Bono and Wim Wenders have put together a love story so unconventional that it nearly defies description... it is certainly NOT a "tragi-comic, romantic whodunnit", despite the IMDb plot summary. It's a tale of quiet desperation and pervasive sadness that dares to violate pretty much every unwritten rule in the movie business... further off the wall than "Being John Malkovich" but infinitely more subtle and ultimately smarter.

On the surface it's a tale narrated by an idiot (a dead one at that) which signifies very little. Set in a run-down hotel in which mentally-ill derelicts and freaks are squatting, the film primarily follows Tom-Tom (Jeremy Daviess), a deceptively simple fool who is madly in love with a schizophrenic girl (Milla Jovovich)--who is a heartachingly beautiful hybrid of the Virgin Mary and the Whore of Babylon. The plot is fairly intriguing-- Hardass cop Mel Gibson is investigating the mysterious death of a tycoon's prodigal junkie son. The crazies at the hotel devise an elaborate con job to profit from this tragedy... provided they can bluff a snooty art critic and keep the cops distracted.

Some humorous moments ensue. But the plot is almost irrelevant here. The film works because of the engaging oddball characters (especially Peter Stormare as an obsessive Beatles fan and Jimmy Smits as a bizarre Native American "artist"), because of the brilliantly surreal, postapocalyptic cinematography, and because the sheer naked unhappiness of the film crawls inside of you and doesn't go away for several days. Bono's script, like the best of his music, is deeply cynical about society, but retains a faith in the salvation of individuals. It is neither a comedy, a drama, or a romance... it really just plays out like a bittersweet existential ballad. The only romantic scene features an idiot and a schizoid whore who never actually have sex... but it's one of the most touching love scenes ever captured on film. If that sounds like your cup of tea, check out "The Million Dollar Hotel". I don't think you'll be disappointed.

This for sure one of those movies where you will "get it" or you won't. I liked The Million Dollar Hotel right from the first time I watched it and I did rewatch it a few times.

A rating of 5.9 (at the moment of writing my review) is of course a sad fact - if I compare that rating with all those top-ratings of 8+ for all those shallow, boring, at most mediocre and artless blockbusters Hollywood and companies like Marvel/DC mass publish in our days.

There is a chance you will enjoy The Million Dollar Hotel a lot - if you like sometimes an unusual dish served with some humor and melancholy - if not, well, I take any bet you wasted your time on far worse movies.

I avoided this film, because of the bad criticism it got in the newspapers. But then I decided to see it at a low price cinema. And I thought, it wasn't all that bad as the critics said. I admit that one has to be in the right mood for this film, and I might alter my judgment, if I saw it a second time. But this time, I enjoyed the way it showed me how colorful life can be, even if it is a difficult and not generally admired one. Each well played character has a different story to tell, and one has to think a little about them. In the end, I took a lot of positive thoughts home. But you have to let yourself go, otherwise you will be disappointed.

The Million Dollar Hotel is quite literally, one of the weirdest movies I have ever seen that features a two time oscar winner such as Mel Gibson. Gibson plays a beyond straight arrow of an FBI agent named Skinner, sent to investigate the mysterious suicide of a millionaire's son (an unbilled Tim Roth) in a seedy hotel that is host to a group of the poor mentally ill. Tom Tom (Jeremy Davies, eschewing Private Upham completely from "Saving Private Ryan), is a half wit delivery boy for the hotel with odd hair who's got a thing for a screw up (Milla Jovovich). Skinner performs a drastic investigation on the hotel who's inhabitants include the Fifth Beatle (a convincing Peter Stormare playing a good guy), an Indian (LA Law's Jimmy Smits!), an old lady (Gloria Stuart, far from her Titanic role), Harold, oops! I mean Bud Cort as a recurring alcoholic, a weirdo (Amanda Plummer, in another fine character role), and others. Definitely an eccentric film that is far from Hollywood. Gibson is quite, to describe it lightly, strange as an FBI agent not to be trifled with. His face alone is that of something that's out of a Stephen King novel. Jeremy Davies seems as if he's had way too many No Doz pills to fulfill the lead role, one that requires him to barely speak. Filled with small roles from recognizable character actors, this is a film that's for an acquired taste, because this is very out there for a movie.

For those of you who are big Mel Gibson fans. This is not your movie. This is for Wim Wenders and U2 fans. This is an art film, though it is made accessible by the performances of Davies, Jovovich and Gibson. It is a very simple, character driven film with a host of great actors. (It is nice to see that Bud Cort is doing something interesting.) The best films usually take a simple story and do it very well. Such are the films of Kubrik and Kurosawa, two of the greatest film-makers of all time (if you don't agree there is a good chance you wont like this film). This film (as opposed to just "movie") has a very simple story, but it does it beautifully. I recommend it to any film lover.

PS: If you like this one check out "Dersu Uzala" by Kurosawa and "Purple Noon" (trans.) by Clement.