Hotel de Love (1996)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Craig Rosenberg

Writer:

Craig Rosenberg (written by)

Release Date:

7 February 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A comedy about the romantically challenged and the passionately confused.

Plot:

Twin brothers meet a childhood sweetheart at a tacky hotel and rediscover their love as they renew their competition for her affection.

Plot Keywords:

Twins | Party | Marriage Proposal | Breasts | Narration

Cast

Aden Young	...	Rick Dunne
Saffron Burrows	...	Melissa Morrison
Simon Bossell	...	Stephen Dunne
Pippa Grandison	...	Allison Leigh
Ray Barrett	...	Jack Dunne
Julia Blake	...	Edith Dunne
Peter O'Brien	...	Norman Carey
Belinda McClory	...	Janet Campbell
Caleb Cluff	...	Bruce
Cassandra Magrath	...	Suzy
Andrew Bibby	...	Matt
Alan Hopgood	...	Ronnie
Raelee Hill	...	Emma Andrews
Margaret Hoctor	...	Bridesmaid
Bayard Templin	...	Melissa's Father

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality.

Runtime:

95 min | UK:96 min | USA:96 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Pratt Films

Trivia:

A subplot involving Susan (the girl behind the counter) and Matt (a worker at the hotel) was cut. Matt gives Melissa some boxer shorts that cost $20. She doesn't have the money, but he lets her go, saying that she owes him. Throughout the movie, Matt was supposed to pop up at inopportune moments asking for the $20. It seems Susan wanted a physical symbol of their love. Matt never gets the $20. They fight, and by the end of the film, he gets Melissa's necklace from Rick. Director Craig Rosenberg cut this subplot because it was not totally necessary.

Quotes:

Stephen: Do you ever look at people and wonder about their lives?

Soundtrack:

Lost in Love

A Chick Flick, Australian Style

Farce, either on stage or in film, requires truly great timing. In the case of film, that places an even greater burden on the editor, the one who chooses where and how to do the cuts at just the right millisecond. In "Hotel De Love" we have a very broad sort of farce that unfortunately lingers always a bit too long on its sight gags and double-takes.

That is doubly annoying because one senses that both the conception and the script itself have potential. In the hands of, say, someone like Billy Wilder, this film might have gone somewhere. Of course that assumes the acting might have been less amateurish as well, but who knows? As it is, one really well executed scene is followed by a lesser one, followed by a non-sequitur, followed by something sentimental and not very funny.

The British have taken over romantic comedy from Hollywood -- the kind appealing mainly to women -- as in anything featuring Hugh Grant or Rupert Everett. Australia seems to do better with serious drama or tongue-in-cheek stuff like "Priscilla" or "The Sum of Us." Maybe it's time for Nicole Kidman to try an old Rosalind Russell script opposite, say, Russell Crowe, set in Sydney. (Melbourne seems a bit irrelevant, like Winnipeg or Bristol.)

Not that there's anything wrong with sentimentality. It's just that really good farce needs a subtle edge, and this one doesn't have it.