X
- 2006
- R
- Brazos Productions
- 1 h 34 m
- 2006
- R
- Brazos Productions
- 1 h 34 m
Summary El Cortez is the story of an autistic man (Phillips) who attempts to start a new life after a five year incarceration in a prison for the criminally insane.
Directed By: Stephen Purvis
Written By: Chris Haddock
- 2006
- R
- Brazos Productions
- 1 h 34 m
- 2006
- R
- Brazos Productions
- 1 h 34 m
El Cortez
36
5.3
Summary El Cortez is the story of an autistic man (Phillips) who attempts to start a new life after a five year incarceration in a prison for the criminally insane.
Directed By: Stephen Purvis
Written By: Chris Haddock
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
36
14% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
43% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
43% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
36
14% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
43% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
43% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Director Stephen Purvis and writer Chris Haddock never rise above the material's inherent pulpiness, but they keep the twists coming until the very end.
An ambitious, low-budget neo-noir, Stephen Purvis' El Cortez navigates the genre's tawdry twists and crosses and double-crosses with intermittent flair.
Perhaps in an effort to root the film in the genre, the dialogue reaches for a particular hard-boiled register but grasps only clichés.
El Cortez, like so many before it, searches for that nugget in the genre mine but just doesn't find it.
Every "twist" is so telegraphed that there's little suspense here. Phillips' performance is an enjoyable change of pace, and the gratuitous sex scene with Middendorf is fairly hot, but the story's just an aggravating wait for the inevitable double-crosses. For it to be a true lowbrow pleasure, more sex would be needed.
Sharing its title with a historic Reno hotel that's seen better days (or maybe not), El Cortez is a clumsy lump of ponderous pulp fiction with "Cooler" aspirations.
The script, by Chris Haddock, leaves numerous questions unanswered. It also reflects the character depth and conversational complexity of a 14-year-old’s first effort at fiction.
Lou Diamond Phillips is let down by an uninspired supporting cast, including Bruce Weitz as a crippled con artist and Tracy Middendorf as the requisite femme fatale, a clichéd script, and flat direction by Stephen Purvis.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 4 User Ratings
5.3
50% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
25% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
25% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 4 User Ratings
5.3
50% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
25% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
25% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
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