Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

The Million Dollar Hotel

(2000)

We were lured into this one because it was directed by Wim Wenders, who I have liked in the past. It stars Mel Gibson, and I wondered why I hadn’t heard of it. The answer is simple: It was barely released at all. With a budget of $8,000,000, they got a little over $50,000 back. Sometimes this means it’s a neglected movie, sunk because of studio politics, but not this time. This is a genuine stinker. It’s about a group of what they must have hoped were zany and endearing people living in a rundown hotel. They are neither zany nor endearing, they are just boring. At the 30-minute point we bailed out, holding our noses.