Hotel! (2001)

 

I don’t know what exactly you’d call this weird little made-for-TV movie.  Britain’s answer to Airplane!, maybe?  It’s an oddball comedy, definitely too goofy for its own good but not entirely without amusement.  The plot is outrageous and the fast-and-furious gags are sometimes groan-worthy (“I’ll have my bill,” a guest says, and receives a large plastic toucan beak) and sometimes chuckle-worthy (“I want you to have my children!”  “Are you sure you don’t want them anymore?”)  Really, the best description I can give is “bonkers.”

 

The Nearby Hotel, where most of the staff is out of its mind and everything is taken literally, becomes an unwitting hotbed of activity when Air Force One makes an unscheduled landing.  With the president of the United States cooling his heels in a suite, a gang of eastern European terrorists seize the opportunity to infiltrate the hotel and wreak havoc.  It’s up to Ben Carter, a hotel worker/former commando, to save the free world.

 

PC plays Hilton Gilfoyle, the hotel manager.  Hilton is a rather stunning combination of self-absorbed, incompetent, and, when the terrorists arrive, cowardly.  His resolve immediately crumbles to atoms, and he’s eager to exchange any and all information he has for assured safety.

 

What can I say?  Hilton is absolutely silly, an over-the-top goofball completely out of his depth.  Because the whole movie is so off-the-wall, it actually doesn’t bug me the way parts of Fortysomething did.  Here, everyone inhabits a crazy world doing ridiculous things, which is preferable to “a bunch of people having relatively normal reactions to farcical situations, plus this one lunatic.”  It’s another singing role – naturally the optimal response to a terrorist incursion is to lead a group hostage sing-along.

 

He’s not the only talented actor perplexingly involved in this bizarre film.  Keeley Hawes, who I know best from Death at a Funeral, plays a fetching concierge, and Ben is played by none other than Eighth Doctor Paul McGann.

 

Accent Watch

 

A rather light Scottish accent.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – While I admit that certain gags cracked me up, I don’t know if I can in good conscious recommend this film on its own merits; it’s just so weird.

 

PC-wise – Eh… a very subdued “possibly?”  PC commits 100% to the silliness and is pretty darn funny, but… eh.

 

Warnings

 

Sexual references; there’s also a lot of guns being waved around, but the actual violence is minimal.