Hotel

Though finally overwhelmed by a preening lassitude, Hotel is never less than fascinating.

If you're ready to roll with Hotel and take what it gives you, there's some rich entertainment here.

Long stretches of Mike Figgis' film are jaw-droppingly pretentious or painfully dull... Nevertheless, there are clever, funny, erotic and visually beautiful moments scattered throughout the film.

Though Hotel has brilliant moments, and an energetic first half, it falls away badly in the later stages.

As usual, Figgis coaxes moon-shooting performances, but all the furious improv lacks any sort of map.

Like Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H" this has a banquet scene posed like The Last Supper, but the basic idea--toothless satire trimming a dull star party--reminded me more of "Ready to Wear."

Figgis certainly was after something different, but like "Timecode," in which four linked stories unwind in separate panels, Hotel proves to be a fundamentally insipid bid at experimental narrative.