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The Million Dollar Hotel (2001)
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Reviews Counted:13
Fresh:2
Rotten:11
Average Rating:3.5/10
Consensus: Critics say the weirdness of The Million Dollar Hotel is more grating and pretentious than interesting. Also, it takes too long to get to the conclusion.
Theatrical Release:Feb 2, 2001 Limited
Synopsis: Wim Wenders's THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL is a well-filmed movie set in a majestic, dilapidated hotel on the outskirts of Hollywood. The opener shows Tom Tom (Jeremy Davies), the eccentric, slightly... Wim Wenders's THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL is a well-filmed movie set in a majestic, dilapidated hotel on the outskirts of Hollywood. The opener shows Tom Tom (Jeremy Davies), the eccentric, slightly retarded, skateboard-riding narrator, wandering in slow motion at daybreak on the roof of the hotel, as a hypnotic U2 song completes the moment. The film consists of many of these near-perfect fantasy capsules, strung together by a vague plot--that Agent Skinner (Mel Gibson), a clownish detective, is investigating the supposed murder of an artist named Izzy who was living at the hotel, and who is the son of a millionaire. What Skinner learns immediately is that most of the hotel's residents are, like Tom Tom, mentally disabled and basically harmless. Geronimo (Jimmy Smits) is one of the few hotel occupants who seems capable of committing such a crime, but even he is more entertaining than threatening. Through Skinner's observation of his subjects, viewers witness some delectably sweet events, such as the magical scene in which Tom Tom meets his true love, Eloise (Milla Jovovich), in the stairwell of the hotel. Both the actors and the sets of THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL facilitate stunning photography that looks as if it were ripped from the pages of Vogue. The script, based on an idea by Bono, and the score by U2, complete this fashionable picture. [More]
Starring: Mel Gibson, Milla Jovovich, Jeremy Davies, Jimmy Smits
Starring: Mel Gibson, Milla Jovovich, Jeremy Davies, Jimmy Smits, Bud Cort, Peter Stormare, Amanda Plummer, Gloria Stuart
Director: Wim Wenders
Director: Wim Wenders
Screenwriter: Nicholas Klein
Producer: Wim Wenders, Deepak Nayar, Bruce Davey, Bono, Nicholas Klein
Composer: Bono, Daniel Lanois
Studio: Icon Entertainment
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Reviews for The Million Dollar Hotel
It is probably asking too much of this phantasmagoria that it make sense.
If you're looking for a defining Wenders image, try starting with the gloomy angels in overcoats in Wings Of Desire.
If any of these characters were half as resonant as Wenders appears to think they are, the film might have seemed charming instead of merely stranded.
Audiences partial to this rather rarefied material will find plenty to enjoy in the technically polished production, but those not on Wenders’ wavelength will be seriously alienated.
The script that Nicholas Klein has conjured from Bono's idea is a quicksand that sucks down a solid cast.
There's a vacancy in The Million Dollar Hotel, and it's between Wim Wenders' ears.
Pretentious, indulgent, tiresome exercise in star-strutting and seediness.
There may not be anyone else who is as capable of romanticizing bummed-out good taste as Mr. Wenders.
Pretentious and trite in a way that you can get away with in a rock song or a music video, but that becomes almost unbearably irritating in a full-length feature.
If you're a Wenders admirer and can give yourself over to his gorgeous verging-on-surreal vision, you can come away deeply moved.
Even alternative cinema god, Wenders, and rock's last great savior, Bono, are doing little more than recycling the material and cardboard people that Hollywood machinery has assigned as the harmless, loveable freaks.
Something of a monstrosity -- liquored self-indulgence taken to its own astral plane.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 86% 86% | A Christmas Tale |
| 60% 60% | Paper Heart |
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