Bad Times at the El Royale

A weathered and phlegmy Jeff Bridges in Bad Times at the El Royale

Drew Goddard's Bad Times at the El Royale is a tad underrated, I venture. An inventively original screenplay, by Mr. Goddard, attracts a number of noted performers who contribute to a pungent noir. As in The Cabin in the Woods, Goddard brings a lively immediacy to the proceedings.

Bad Times... is blocked overly precisely which, at times, drains the life out of the film. Goddard revels in pop compositions with overly hip, yet arresting, decor. They are presented in a highly physical cartoon style. The cast is often dwarfed by the sets, which contain multiple locked boxes, trap doors and two way mirrors. The plot is clever, perhaps too clever, and the film can't entirely transcend its pulp artifice. Seven strangers converge at a Cal-Neva motel and their numbers dwindle.

Jeff Bridges and Cynthia Erivo are both outstanding as two desperate characters drawn together by fate. Bridges is too phlegmy at times, but it is appropriate for his character. Erivo looks a bit silly holding a gun, but her vocalizing holds together the many musical motifs of the film beautifully. Chris Hemsworth is a physical wonder, but can't animate a Manson manque. Ditto Dakota Johnson as a tough cookie. Jon Hamm gets to play a cartoon version of Don Draper to negligible effect. Lewis Pullman and Cailee Spaeny are both quite good in absurd parts.

The movie seeks to be a paranoid picture of the USA circa 1970. Reminiscent of The Anderson Tapes and The Conversation, surveillance and wiretapping evoke the Nixon era. The twin horrors of Manson and Vietnam are illustrated in flashbacks, which flesh out the back stories of the characters. Bad Times...has been dismissed as a Tarantino rip off due to its structure and whiffs of Jackie Brown and The Hateful Eight, but pulp is a large field and Goddard has borrowed from many sources. Bad Times... swept me along despite my finding its allegorical Americana risible. I did enjoy its depiction of musical devolution from Soul(The Isley Brothers) to Psychedelia(Deep Purple) as an aural portrait of 60s rot. Bad Times at the El Royale  has a gutbucket energy which bodes well for Goddard if he can avoid cartoon universes.