After she nearly runs him over with her car, Helene (Catherine Deneuve) hooks up
with total loser Gilles (Patrick Dewaere). Right from the start this
relationship is doomed, but yet for whatever reason they keep plugging away at
it even though Gilles has the maturity level of an infant. He's constantly
pouting and throwing temper tantrums. And when he's not doing that he's
either storming off or getting drunk. This dude is a total mess! At
one point he's shit faced and she's driving him home so he throws their house
keys out the car window then tries to wreck the car while saying "We should get
married." What the fuck is wrong with this guy?! Oh, yeah he's also
extremely jealous of her last boyfriend...who died in a swimming
accident! Also, his best friend is an unemployed musician who goes around
stealing calculators, begging for money and acting like a total creep to
everybody including Gilles' younger sister.
Deneuve is beautiful as always, but I just couldn't get over what an asshole
Gilles was. I guess that's the point of the film, but it's too frustrating
to be enjoyable. Here this guy hooks up with a beautiful woman and he gets so butthurt over the fact that she still has a place in
her heart for her dead ex that he sticks out his bottom lip and lays in bed for
days(!!!) not eating and when she tries to be nice to him he jumps up and starts
slapping her around! What the fuck?
Technically, HOTEL AMERICA looks fine and the acting is good, but it's just not
my cup of tea. Maybe you'll enjoy watching these two cold, disconnected
lovers more than I did.
