The Motel

Released Jan 24, 2005

1h 16m

Comedy

Drama

List

88%

32 Reviews

Tomatometer

64%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

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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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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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

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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

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David Lamble

Bay Area Reporter

Michael Kang resolutely sticks to telling the story from Ernest's limited point of view...

May 14, 2020

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Maria Garcia

Film Journal International

A wonderful reminder that adult life is never as difficult as puberty was.

Mar 1, 2007

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Don Willmott

Filmcritic.com

A welcome addition to the "awkward adolescence" genre,

Rated: 3.5/5

Feb 9, 2007

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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

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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

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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

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Michael Kang

Director

Jeffrey Chyau

Ernest Chin

Sung Kang

Sam Kim

Jade Wu

Ahma Chin

Samantha Futerman

Christine

Stephen Chen

Gung Gung

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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: Esther Shapiro, Richard Alan Shapiro, Eden J. Shapiro
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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