The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)

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

Director:

Wim Wenders

Writers:

Bono (story), Nicholas Klein (screenplay)

Stars:

Jeremy Davies, Milla Jovovich, Mel Gibson

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeremy Davies	...	Tom Tom
Milla Jovovich	...	Eloise
Mel Gibson	...	Detective Skinner
Jimmy Smits	...	Geronimo
Peter Stormare	...	Dixie
Amanda Plummer	...	Vivien
Gloria Stuart	...	Jessica
Tom Bower	...	Hector
Donal Logue	...	Charley Best
Bud Cort	...	Shorty
Julian Sands	...	Terence Scopey
Conrad Roberts	...	Stix
Harris Yulin	...	Stanley Goldkiss
Charlayne Woodard	...	Jean Swift
Ellen Cleghorne	...	Marlene

Storyline

The Million Dollar Hotel follows the supposed murder of Izzy Goldkiss. FBI Agent Skinner is sent into investigate the crime, and to weed out the killer. When he reaches the 'hotel', he comes across many of the forgotten types of people living in the city. You have Geronimo, who is a self proclaimed Native American artist. Dixie, played with great gusto by Peter Stormare, as the 'fifth' Beatle still waiting for his royalty payments as well as recognition. Eloise, who is the neighborhood 'whore'. And then there is Tom-Tom, played by Jeremy Davies. He's the center of the story, being that he's the 'village idiot' of the bunch, and has the trust of everyone in the Hotel. Agent Skinner has a few days to find out who the killer is, while the residents of the hotel devise a scheme to sell off Izzy's fabled 'Tar Paintings'.

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Plot Keywords:

hotel | murder | suicide | painting | detective | 

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Taglines:

Everyone has something to hide.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Icon/Road Movies

Country:

Germany UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 February 2000 (Germany)

Also Known As:

The Billion Dollar Hotel

Filming Locations:

Rosslyn Hotel - 112 W. 5th Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$8,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$29,483, 4 February 2001, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$52,526, 11 February 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Icon Entertainment International, Kintop Pictures, Road Movies Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Milla Jovovich and Richard Edson both appeared in movies based on video games. Edson appeared in Super Mario Bros. (1993), and Jovovich starred in the Resident Evil film franchise.

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Goofs

The positions of the pool balls change during the voting scene.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Tom Tom: Wow, after I jumped it occurred to me, life is perfect, life is the best. It's full of magic, beauty, opportunity, and television, and surprises, lots of surprises, yeah. And then there's that stuff that everybody longs for, but they only real feel when it's gone. All that just kinda hit me. I guess you don't really see it all clearly when you're - ya know - alive.

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Connections

Edited into U2: The Ground Beneath Her Feet (2000)

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Soundtracks

Falling at Your Feet
Written and Performed by Bono and Daniel Lanois

User Reviews

Beautiful film-- but definitely not for everyone

Here's a brief guide to help you determine if you should see "The Million Dollar Hotel"

If you...

a) Enjoy Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay collaborations b) Thirst insatiably for explosions, car chases and sex scenes featuring silicone-enhanced blondes c) Are considering this film only because you're a Mel Gibson fan...

THEN DON'T RENT "THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL"! YOU WILL LIKELY HATE IT!

Otherwise, you might want to give this one a shot. MDH is far, far off the beaten Hollywood path. It's a quiet, understated film that finds beauty and grace in very unlikely places. Bono and Wim Wenders have put together a love story so unconventional that it nearly defies description... it is certainly NOT a "tragi-comic, romantic whodunnit", despite the IMDb plot summary. It's a tale of quiet desperation and pervasive sadness that dares to violate pretty much every unwritten rule in the movie business... further off the wall than "Being John Malkovich" but infinitely more subtle and ultimately smarter.

On the surface it's a tale narrated by an idiot (a dead one at that) which signifies very little. Set in a run-down hotel in which mentally-ill derelicts and freaks are squatting, the film primarily follows Tom-Tom (Jeremy Daviess), a deceptively simple fool who is madly in love with a schizophrenic girl (Milla Jovovich)--who is a heartachingly beautiful hybrid of the Virgin Mary and the Whore of Babylon. The plot is fairly intriguing-- Hardass cop Mel Gibson is investigating the mysterious death of a tycoon's prodigal junkie son. The crazies at the hotel devise an elaborate con job to profit from this tragedy... provided they can bluff a snooty art critic and keep the cops distracted.

Some humorous moments ensue. But the plot is almost irrelevant here. The film works because of the engaging oddball characters (especially Peter Stormare as an obsessive Beatles fan and Jimmy Smits as a bizarre Native American "artist"), because of the brilliantly surreal, postapocalyptic cinematography, and because the sheer naked unhappiness of the film crawls inside of you and doesn't go away for several days. Bono's script, like the best of his music, is deeply cynical about society, but retains a faith in the salvation of individuals. It is neither a comedy, a drama, or a romance... it really just plays out like a bittersweet existential ballad. The only romantic scene features an idiot and a schizoid whore who never actually have sex... but it's one of the most touching love scenes ever captured on film. If that sounds like your cup of tea, check out "The Million Dollar Hotel". I don't think you'll be disappointed.