A forgetful priest, a struggling singer and a Colgate-smiling hoover salesman walk into a bar. No, not the start of a joke, but the second scene in writer and director Drew Goddard’s outrageously convoluted thriller Bad Times At The El Royale which though running at a gobsmacking 140 minutes and containing more twists than Theresa May’s Brexit-coloured knickers is a bloody and rib-tickling blast from beginning to end which is elevated even higher by an unexpected tug of the heart strings as the films snakes its way towards its psychedelic conclusion.

The initial scene hooking the audience from the off in true neo-noir style: a man in a mac walks into a hotel room carrying a bag laden with who knows what, furniture is pushed to one side, a carpet unrolled, floorboards prised up and said bag deposited into resulting hole. Restoring the room to its former glory in the bi-state hotel which offers “hope and opportunity” to the Nevadan east and “warmth and sunshine” to the Californian west – “what’s the difference?” asks a bemused guest, “a dollar” the concierge’s droll reply – a man in a mac becomes a man in a box after a gunfight at the far from O.K. Corral.

To reveal more would be to spoil. But let’s just say that nothing and no one are what and who they at first appear to be. Added to which, the line-up of ever-increasing characters hold more secrets than a Masonic Lodge, with Jeff Bridges excelling, as ever, as forgetful Father Flynn, Jon Hamm hamming it up to the max as the smooth-talking salesman and Cynthia Erivo in sensational voice as Motown singer-on-the-slide Darlene Sweet. No wonder she won a Tony Award for her performance as Celie in The Color Purple.

The lengthy running time and numerous plot twists might not be to everyone’s taste, but each flashback fleshes out the characters and provides a motive for their erratic actions, with no stones left un-turned and few turns left un-stoned or rather un-blasted into smithereens. So take a bow Drew Goddard for following up the successes of Cloverfield, The Cabin In The Woods and The Martian with yet another bloody and rib-tickling blast with depth, poignancy and a soundtrack to literally die for. To paraphrase Ray Charles: Let the bad times roll!

Director: Drew Goddard
Writer: Drew Goddard
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson
Peter Callaghan
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