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The Motel

Play trailer Poster for The Motel Released Jan 24, 2005 1h 16m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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88% Tomatometer 32 Reviews 64% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
While shouldering the burden of cleaning his family's sleazy motor inn, 13-year-old Ernest (Jeffrey Chyau) dreams of being a writer. A ne'er-do-well named Sam (Sung Kang) arrives for a night but stays longer, and the fatherless boy sees in him a male figure to emulate.

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The Motel

The Motel

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Critics Consensus

A coming-of-age dramedy whose familiar outline is filled in with rewarding empathy and character detail, The Motel marks an impressive feature debut for writer-director Michael Kang.

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Critics Reviews

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Ty Burr Boston Globe The Motel gives the lie to all those mainstream teen sex comedies starring happy, horny gwailos . Rated: 3/4 Nov 17, 2006 Full Review G. Allen Johnson San Francisco Chronicle Perhaps The Motel meanders a bit too much -- hard to do in a 76-minute film -- but it is an engaging little movie. Rated: 3/4 Oct 20, 2006 Full Review Jeff Shannon Seattle Times It's a modest triumph of unflattering realism, proving yet again that a camera, a few good actors, the right material and a sensitive director are all you need to illuminate any particular aspect of humanity. Rated: 2.5/4 Sep 1, 2006 Full Review David Lamble Bay Area Reporter Michael Kang resolutely sticks to telling the story from Ernest's limited point of view... May 14, 2020 Full Review Maria Garcia Film Journal International A wonderful reminder that adult life is never as difficult as puberty was. Mar 1, 2007 Full Review Don Willmott Filmcritic.com A welcome addition to the "awkward adolescence" genre, Rated: 3.5/5 Feb 9, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Interesting coming of age tale about a chubby Chinese-American boy. His single tiger mother and grandpa own a motel, he does the housekeeping. He finds a sort of father figure in Kang. It varies between funny and tragic. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member On odd duck movie for certain. Basically, an Asian kid is growing up at a hotel where his family owns/works the hotel. It's just a nice, slow story about day-to-day life? The kid never does much but some of it is funny and some weird. I suppose it does escalate toward something but even that is fairly small. I didn't like it really as I watched it, but trying to think back several weeks later, I can at least appreciate that it was different. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member There's something special hidden in this odd-ball dramaedy but the film doesn't work hard enough at capitalizing on it and leaves you with a heartfelt but meandering story. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Audience Member A different type of coming of age story features a young Chinese boy who is pushed into depression by his mother while he works in a seemingly dead end motel business. Very charming. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member The story and the writing are of good quality. A story about this Asian American kid whose family runs this shady motel where prostitutes come and how he comes of age when this drunkard befriends him? Pretty damn good premise. It made for an interesting idea. I think Kang took the idea and stretched it as far as he could. Watching the movie and thinking about the premise again, I don't think it could've been much better. So maybe it was the premise itself that was lacking. Something just felt missing. (cont: http://somefilmsareok.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/the-motel-2005-film-review/ ) Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member I expected a cute, quirky indie film. What I got was something depressing that left me wondering why I didn't shut it off 20 minutes in. There's some good acting, but nothing else to back it up and the overall feel of the movie is just uncomfortable. I wasn't entertained and there's really not any redeeming quality... just a portrait of someone with a crappy life. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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The Motel

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Movie Info

Synopsis While shouldering the burden of cleaning his family's sleazy motor inn, 13-year-old Ernest (Jeffrey Chyau) dreams of being a writer. A ne'er-do-well named Sam (Sung Kang) arrives for a night but stays longer, and the fatherless boy sees in him a male figure to emulate.
Director
Michael Kang
Producer
Matthew Greenfield, Miguel Arteta, Gina Kwon, Karin Chien
Screenwriter
Michael Kang
Production Co
Flan de Coco Films
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 24, 2005, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Jun 28, 2006
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 17, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$50.1K
Runtime
1h 16m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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