THE ROYAL HOTEL
(18) 91mins
★★☆☆☆
HAVING all the ingredients for a delicious meal doesn’t always mean that it will turn out well.
The recipe appears perfect, but skills are needed to put it all together on the plate.
Otherwise it can be an under-seasoned, disappointing mess.
It is how I felt watching this Australian thriller, which has all the components for an edgy, exciting film: Superb leading actress (Julia Garner), some creepy surroundings (a remote outback mining town) and a sprinkle of classic horror (two naive young women looking for excitement on the other side of the world).
Yet it falls short of developing into more than a lukewarm, basic bite.
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Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) are 20- something Americans travelling around Australia on an adventure. The problem is, they’re skint.
The best pals sign up to an agency to get a job in a remote bar in the bush, where, the recruiter warns, they will “have to deal with a lot of male attention”.
They’re soon dumped in the wilderness, at The Royal Hotel: A rundown pub full of local drunks and miners.
Out of their depth and with only a bus every few days to rescue them, the pair try to make the best of their set-up by befriending handsome local, Matty (Toby Wallace), who takes them out for a day trip.
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However, there are others who aren’t so friendly.
Creepy, abusive regular Dolly (Daniel Henshall) starts to make Hanna feel very uneasy indeed. The mistreatment of women — and the injustice in that — is becoming a very popular topic for recent films.
The spectacular Promising Young Woman (2020) and Women Talking (2022) both explored how the male privilege and threat of abuse can spiral into living horror.
But director Kitty Green doesn’t have the confidence to allow those fears to come to fruition.
The storylines just hang in the air like the smell of stale booze. Almost like she doesn’t want to brand anyone the “baddie”.
Also, Hanna and Liv don’t seem to have anything in common or much chemistry, making their unlikely friendship one-dimensional.
After a ropey performance from Garner, her meek, mild character suddenly turns into full-blown Stephen King’s Carrie for very little reason.
I won’t be reaching for seconds.
FINGERNAILS
(15) 113mins
★★★☆☆
"WE don’t need a piece of paper to prove we’re in love” has been uttered by many couples to explain why they haven’t had a legal union.
Fingernails takes that a step further, creating a dystopian world where science can tell you if you are compatible.
There is a Love Institute where the fingernails of two lovers are literally pulled to find out whether they are a good match.
Anna (Jessie Buckley) works at the institute where her boss, Dunan (Luke Wilson), believes he’s found the solution to wasting precious time on ill-matched relationships.
Anna has already tested and matched with her nice-but-dull boyfriend Ryan (Jeremy Allen White), then meets co-worker Amir (Riz Ahmed) and starts to have strong feelings for him.
In one particularly beautiful moment, she secretly watches him as he dances alone at a party and you can see the realisation of love flood her face.
But could their results be a match – and can love be a science, anyway?
These are the interesting questions posed during this gentle, well-acted piece of work that, sadly, never quite pulls on the heart strings enough.
BOTTOMS
(15) 92 mins
★★★☆☆
YOU really don’t want to go searching for information about this film on the internet. Not with that title.
So here, I will help you get to the bottom of things.
The movie’s name has nothing to do with the plot, which involves two US high school lesbian friends setting up an all-girl fight club.
Bottoms, like the title, is a wisecrack that doesn’t entirely work.
There are moments of over-the-top comic violence that are laugh-out-loud funny.
The slapstick starts off as the whack-in-the-mouth stick variety before dialling up to explosions and splattered blood.
Equally good are both leads, Rachel Sennott (from The Idol) as PJ and Ayo Edebiri (from The Bear) as Josie, who are engaging.
Ultimately, though, this is an edgy ride that pulls its punches.
Bottoms tries to shock by showing girls being beaten up, while remaining largely conventional.
PJ and Josie are your typical “uncool losers”, who learn important life lessons. If silly is your thing, this is a good option.
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But perhaps don’t tell your friends you are going to watch Bottoms at the weekend.
Grant Rollings
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