Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

It is 1959.  A man checks into a motel and commences to rearrange the furniture, pull up the carpet, remove the floorboards, and drop a bag into the resulting hole.  He then neatly replaces the boards, reinstalls the carpet, and puts the furniture back in place.  Then there is a knock on the door.  He opens the door and let's the other man in.  The man shoots him and searches the room but fails to find the bag.

Ten years later, several people arrive at the El Royale, a motel near Lake Tahoe that happens to be right on the state line.  Half the rooms are in California, and half are in Nevada.  Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges) appears to be absent-minded but is quite friendly.  Laramie Sullivan (Jon Hamm), a vacuum salesman, has stayed at the motel before and offers some background while they wait for the mysteriously absent motel staff.  Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo), a singer, clearly wants to have no interaction with the others.  Lastly, a woman with attitude (Dakota Johnson) arrives and refuses to give her name.  Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman), the motel's only employee, finally appears in a disheveled state.  He offers a description of El Royale that is mostly a repeat of what Laramie offered.  After that, each person is given a key to various rooms.

When the action kicks off, the story is told from the point of view of each character, often referred to by their room number.  This always involves overlapping, so that the same event might be viewed several times from different points of view.  Also, the switch from character to character often begins with a flashback that explains what happened prior to arriving at the El Royale.  Though there was trouble enough with those already at the hotel, Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth) and his band of goons arrive.  One of the people at the motel crossed him and he has arrived to settle that account.

Of course, the coincidence that all of these people should arrive at this motel on the same day is ludicrous.  Also, based on what we learn when Miles' backstory is revealed, earlier events don't make sense.  Likewise, the actions of some characters are obviously stupid as that is what the plot requires: I'm looking at you, Jon Hamm.  I guess that goes for Jeff Bridges too; you couldn't wait until tomorrow to just rent the other room yourself?  What's the hurry?  The point of view filming allows characters to misinterpret events and take detrimental action, thus triggering bad times.

Overall, an entertaining movie.  Good popcorn fun.