Stars: Jeremy Davies, Milla Jovovich, Mel Gibson, Jimmy Smits, Peter Stormare, Amanda Plummer, Gloria Stuart, Tom Bower

Director: Wim Wenders

Summary: Set in a run-down hotel which attempts to look after people who are mentally ill but cannot afford medical insurance...

Wim Wender'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.

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Many were iffy about Wim Wenders' Faraway, So Close(available on video) and The End of Violence(also available on video), but those films have a lot going for them. The Million Dollar Hotelis the director's true "disasterpiece". The story, co-authored by U2's Bono, is fit only for Bonio dog biscuits, and lead-performer Jeremy Davies is as annoying as anyone ever has been on screen. Spiky-haired semi-cracked Tom-Tom (Davies) takes a running jump off the top of the eponymous refuge for Los Angeles deadbeats, then flashes back to the aftermath of the last fatal fall from the hotel, taken by his junkie friend (played by Tim Roth in a climactic flashback). The hotel is shaken up by the arrival of FBI Special Agent Detective Skinner (Mel Gibson), a maniac in a back-brace who turns out to have had a functional third arm amputated. Other resident weirdoes include saintly slut and bibliophile Milla Jovovich, bogus-Indian artist Jimmy Smits, mad hooker Amanda Plummer and bogus Liverpudlian Peter Stormare (who claims to be a lost Beatle). Just when you think it can't get worse, Julian Sands shows up. Ugly, hectoring and trite. --Kim Newman

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Interactive Menus, Scene Access, Original Theatrical Trailer, Featurette
Subtitles:	English
Year:	2000
Release Date:	October 30, 2000
Runtime:	122 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 092919
Keywords:	Dollar, Hotel, General, Wide, Screen, Million, Romantic, Drama
Genre:	Drama