Film Review: Bad Times at the El Royale

Bad times at this hotel make for good times at the cinema  

A disparate trio of guests (from l., Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges, and Cynthia Ervio) wait to check in to Lake Tahoe’s El Royale hotel.

Mad Men fans still mourning the end of that show have reason to rejoice: Jon Hamm revisits the late ‘60s in Bad Times at the El Royale, a period noir mystery that has stylistic echoes of Matthew Weiner’s acclaimed series. Imagine if Don Draper were a southern appliance salesman (still with a deep secret, of course) instead of a New York ad man, and you’ve got a sense of Hamm’s role here. But Hamm’s return to a 1969 persona is just one small reason to see this well-crafted and well-acted thriller, which has retro style and clever twists to spare.

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