Bad Times at the El Royale
Twentieth Century Fox | Release Date: October 12, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
16
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Film ThreatBobby LePireOct 20, 2018
Bad Times At The El Royale is creepy and mysterious in all the right ways. The tension builds as the non-sequential story allows the pieces to fall into place in mesmerizing fashion. Read full review
83
UproxxVince ManciniOct 1, 2018
That Goddard is so conversant with pop cinema tropes is both his greatest strength and his weakness. Read full review
83
The PlaylistJessica KiangSep 29, 2018
With Bad Times at the El Royale Goddard’s comparatively leisurely pace may disappoint the more impatient, splatter-hungry genre-hounds in his fanbase, but for the rest of us, he has made impressive, enjoyable and gorgeous-to-look-at work of his “difficult second album” by defying expectations in a different way: broadening his scope, deepening his craft and letting the Bad Times roll. Read full review
83
Consequence of SoundDan CaffreySep 29, 2018
Though not as unpredictable as the preceding two hours (and nowhere close to the dizzying final act of Cabin In the Woods), the resolution is still a lot of fun, straight out of a thrilling dime-store novel you’d keep by your bedside table. Read full review
83
IGNJim VejvodaSep 27, 2018
Bad Times at the El Royale may overstay its welcome a bit, and it never realizes the potential of its villain, but it’s still an engrossing, well-made crime flick bolstered by several fine performances from its ensemble cast. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 27, 2018
The more that Goddard upends our assumptions about who’s good, who’s bad, and who’s going to live through the night, the more we realize that we’re rooting for all of these fucked-up people to get right with the world. It’s massively didactic, but in a way that encourages us to dwell on how we feel about these characters, and how malleable those feelings are. Read full review
81
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiSep 27, 2018
Bad Times at the El Royale is vibrant motion picture, in a way few films are nowadays. One might even call it indulgent, although “decadent” is probably more accurate. Read full review
80
EmpireAlex GodfreyOct 1, 2018
A beautifully staged film with everything in its place, this is both an affectionate homage and a timely commentary, falling only slightly short of its own ambition. Classy pulp fiction. Read full review
80
Total FilmJames MottramSep 27, 2018
If the film isn’t quite as inventive as the game-changing horror that was Cabin in the Woods (which boasted Joss Whedon as co-scripter), it’s infused with affection and craft. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperOct 12, 2018
Sometimes it’s a creepy thriller. Sometimes it’s a gripping and heartbreaking story of a man losing his memory. Sometimes it’s drive-in movie about a charismatic and thoroughly reprehensible cult leader. And then, from time to time, it’s for all intents and purposes a musical. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattOct 10, 2018
It’s British stage actress Erivo who feels like the real star. Her steely charisma and gorgeous powerhouse of a voice (Goddard takes every plausible opportunity to let her loose on a classic 1960s songbook; can you blame him?) is what gives the movie not just a different kind of heroine, but a heart. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanOct 9, 2018
Not all of its surprises are pleasant ones, but there is a certain satisfaction in experiencing a yarn that is so obstinately un-anticipatable. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeSep 29, 2018
Unlike the director’s debut feature The Cabin In The Woods, Bad Times At The El Royale isn’t a deconstruction of the neo-noir genre so much as a structurally ambitious example of same. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangOct 10, 2018
Truth be told, I don’t much mind the version of Bad Times at the El Royale we have before us. Even if, with its multi-chapter narrative and time-skipping plotlines, its mix of verbal longwindedness and abrupt violence, the movie initially seems to warn of a terminal case of Tarantino-itis: an El Royale with cheese. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaOct 10, 2018
There is a staginess to the action that creates a certain distance between the film and viewers (an opening sequence almost feels like like you're watching a play). That's another Tarantino-style touch. However, you never feel too disconnected, thanks to the good work from the cast. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 27, 2018
There’s ample amusement in the twists, betrayals and revelations that unspool. But Bad Times never really transcends the inherent limitations of its setup; it’s fun, but fleeting. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleOct 3, 2018
If you’re looking for a thrilling whodunit, there’s nothing in this film that hasn’t been done – and done better – a dozen times before. Read full review
65
The AtlanticDavid SimsOct 11, 2018
I have to applaud Goddard’s ambition, even when it overreaches. Yes, Bad Times at the El Royale is bloated and might’ve functioned better as a punchy bit of neo-noir. But it’s rare for a genre film to feel so sweeping and inventive. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 13, 2018
Bad Times at the El Royale has problems beyond its inability to stick the ending but that’s the one that ultimately sinks it. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 11, 2018
Like Tarantino, Goddard is a clever structuralist. He attracts strong actors, and lets them stretch out and try things, and gives them juicy dialogue. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyOct 11, 2018
A line gets crossed. It isn’t the one between California and Nevada. It’s the one from “Bad” to worse. Read full review
63
Philadelphia Daily NewsNick VadalaOct 10, 2018
Goddard provides ample space for his star-studded cast to play, often to great effect, thanks mostly to lesser-known stars like Erivo and Pullman. The production design is similarly engrossing, with the El Royale's endless corridors and secrets making it as much a character in the movie as any of its human players. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineDerek SmithOct 1, 2018
The film begins as a cheeky retro chamber drama before morphing into an often expectation-busting blend of noir and pitch-black comedy. Read full review
60
CineVueMichael MazzantiOct 17, 2018
For every slick moment of style, there is an immensely somber undercurrent that matches its beating heart and occasional levity. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Simran HansOct 14, 2018
In its better moments, this studio oddity is a tense thriller, at its worst, draggy and self-indulgent. Read full review
60
Time OutPhil de SemlyenOct 12, 2018
As with his first directorial effort, the ace meta-horror The Cabin in the Woods, Goddard has a blast toying with genre expectations, although here the payoff is a lot less satisfying. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 11, 2018
Goddard keeps everything smoothly, ebbing and flowing as the characters separate and join together, but at some point during this logy 2-hour-and-21-minute exercise you want something more substantial than even Hemsworth’s admittedly mesmerizing snaky hips. Read full review
60
SlateInkoo KangOct 11, 2018
Until its resolution, Bad Times is a fun-enough romp through retro genre pleasures. But when it drags in the real world in its final scenes, it reveals itself to be just as fatuous as most such nostalgic pastiches tend to be. Read full review
60
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 11, 2018
Here’s the thing about Bad Times at the El Royale: When it’s good, it’s very, very good — and when it’s bad, this retro whatsit is a whole lot of awful. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 10, 2018
For all its twisty unexpectedness, it didn’t deliver a really satisfying denouement. The performances are interesting. Read full review
60
VoxAlissa WilkinsonOct 3, 2018
Part metaphorical (which it jokes about halfway through), part homage to old Hollywood, part whodunit, and part social commentary on an America reeling from mid-century chaos, it’s overstuffed but still feels controlled. Read full review
50
Vanity FairRichard LawsonOct 13, 2018
I remain as curious as ever to see what Goddard does next. But this film, for all its canny presentation, is a mishmash of compelling narrative premises clumsily fused together. It manages to be both overwrought and under-developed, disappointing less for what it is than for what it could have been. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 13, 2018
The directorial talent is there. Now if he can just be persuaded to let someone else write the script next time, we might have something serious to talk about. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesJ.R. KinnardOct 12, 2018
Themes exploring redemption and forgiveness fall flat because it’s impossible to empathize with these characters. Mostly, this is an exercise in style; a slick tribute to righteous trash that promises a lot more fun than it actually delivers. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinOct 12, 2018
Bad Times at the El Royale isn’t an event. But I was never too bored. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJake CoyleOct 10, 2018
Goddard’s film looks terrific and has all of the — as Hamm’s character would say with exaggerated Southern flare — “accoutrements” of an intoxicating slow-burn thriller, but none of the payoff. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 27, 2018
At two hours and 21 minutes, this 1969-set period thriller is taxingly slow and almost oppressively self-indulgent, constantly backtracking and replaying already-drawn-out scenes from multiple perspectives. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenSep 27, 2018
It's great to look at, nearly giddy with pop-culture love, and its particulars are intriguing. But those pieces — by turns weird, soulful and exhilarating — merely accumulate, when they should be generating magic. Read full review
40
ScreenCrushMatt SingerOct 1, 2018
Lots of mystery hangs in the air of the El Royale, but when all is said and done there aren’t a ton of surprises in Bad Times at the El Royale’s story, or the way that story is told. Even with a bunch of twists, things progress largely how you expect, only slower. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyOct 12, 2018
It’s an unfortunately apt demonstration of what can befall a clever filmmaker who gets too clever. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)John SemleyOct 11, 2018
The direction is similarly yearning; practically begging for admiration. A sequence in which Hemsworth swishes toward the camera, piece of pie in hand, grooving to the strains of Deep Purple’s Hush, is so desperate in its attempt to appear iconic that it becomes difficult to watch head-on. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedOct 12, 2018
Half modern western, half thriller, an unspeakable waste of time called Bad Times at the El Royale is depraved, self-indulgent trash that is a narrative mess and, at nearly two-and-a-half hours in length, seems to go on forever. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 1, 2018
Ponderously telling some parts of its sketch-of-a-story from multiple points of view, it’s an excruciating exercise in self-indulgence, packed with flashbacks and those big speeches/big scenes that draw names like Oscar winner Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson and Jon Hamm to its cast. It adds up to nothing more than two hours and 21 minutes of tedium, with the odd spasm of violence, back-story or musical interlude. Read full review
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