The Million Dollar Hotel Poster

The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)

Drama | Thriller 
Rayting:   5.9/10 20.8K votes
Country: Germany | UK
Language: English
Release date: 18 May 2000

Tragi comic, romantic whodunnit set in a run down hotel which plays host to mentally ill people too poor to afford medical insurance.

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User Reviews

Tzsm98 19 March 2002

It is a love story, social commentary, crime drama and personal narrative all wrapped up in one film. It all works but the personal narrative which almost works.

The movie begins with the narrator jumping off the building. It sets the bar high for making sure the film provides enough motivation to support that act. It sets a high bar for the viewer to care when he leaps. It fails on both counts. The leap bookends the rest of the action. Bookends are functional but not necessary to keep books together. This leap is not necessary to keep the film together. It functions to allow you entry into and exit out of the story. In this it is very effective making its lack of motivation forgivable.

This is about life on the edges. Most characters are on the edges of society, high and low. Most characters are at the edges of sanity. Some approach the edge, from both directions. It takes the Network envisioned world showing how that world impacts people at the edges. One character's desire to keep an event from getting to TV in an unfavorable light drives Detective Skinner's involvement. The involvement of TV is courted by another group of characters to enhance their economic status. All the time TV is pushing to get a taste of the scandal in order to profit itself.

The love story is inescapably intertwined with the crime story. Detective Skinner plays cupid to discover the truth. What begins as an uncomfortable failure to reject by Eloise turns into a warm and caring relationship. The pain it causes Tom's love interest provides the only compelling reason, aside from general principle, for caring about the narrator leaping.

Social commentary is on several levels. On top are "we need better health care" and "marginalization of the mentally ill". Underneath is the issue of power. The media mogul, the detective, Eloise, and the collective residents all make use of power to influence outcomes. Political influence, personal attraction, the lure of a better life, physical and verbal abuse are all in play. A small irony is that the `powerful' media mogul is probably less effective in exercising power than the `marginal' residents of the hotel.

The crime story works well. That a crime was committed is up for grabs as much as who did it. A dark joke is that someone from the LAPD is assigned to the FBI agent to make sure he follows procedures. The LAPD liaison is totally ineffective and the only truly powerless character in the entire movie.

This movie is a visual treat. Editing is unusual and effective. It is smooth when that works and it is jumpy and ragged when that works. From the opening shot to the end each scene is an eyeful.

mystic80 2 May 2001

Fmovies: 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.

dromasca 1 June 2002

This is the kind of story that made Agatha Christie famous. An FBI detective is sent to solve a murder case in the close environment of a hotel. Routine? Not at all, as everybody in this hotel happens to be some kind of a mental case, with a broken life story and a character due for the supporting act Oscar. Even Mel Gibson's FBI character named Skinner (irony towards X-Files?) keeps a skeleton in his life's closet. Good acting and cinematography keeps the viewer interest alive. Yes, there are logic flaws that fellow reviewers must have bashed to death until now, but this is not what this film is about. Seeing this film reminds more the pre-revolution Russian writers stories a hundred years ago - what is the million dollars hotel but a Night Asylum at the beginning of the 21st century.

A long and expected end spoils something from the overall impression, but this is however a movie above the average crowd

yt13 30 March 2005

The Million Dollar Hotel fmovies. It's a screwball tragedy, a term made up by someone else to describe this film. There are no others of this type. It's a love story without "They lived happily ever after"; it's a mystery (the essence of real) in a subtly surreal world. Not only is the story unique, but so are most of the characters, which seems to be a problem for some viewers. I don't want to paint this movie as too weird, but its differences are some of the best things about it.

Cinematography is classic, sharp, lots of deep focus. Exteriors, interiors, non-traditional lighting, a dawn scene shot before the magic hour, it all looks great. I can't recall a scene with foreground in focus while background is out, or vice versa.

U2 contributed a tune or two to the soundtrack, as they have for all Wim Wenders films since the 80s. The rest of the soundtrack is jazzy. It supports the film beautifully, and is available on CD.

If you've liked any of Wim Wenders films, I think you'll love this one.

AntonS-1 6 October 2001

I've been impressed and moved as I haven't been for years. One of the best Wenders' films. Famous for road movies Wenders bewitches with flow movement and sound. The sound struck me most this time. All voices are very characteristic and exquisitely orchestrated. Besides they are imperceptibly interwoven into U2 music. Speaking of U2, their music is I believe of the same nature as Wim Wenders cinematography art - smooth flow and yet very disturbing and full of latent force. So this combination is not accidental.

Certainly this is kind of film once you like it you look forward to watch it again and again. There is drug quality in it. Knowing a plot (not essential) won't decrease the joy of being taken to the world of live feelings. Feelings flitting like a butterfly of the main character. That domed love state of the film is colored by the good humor too, which is a good sign for a real artist.

andre-71 19 July 2000

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.

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