The Stream: The film just doesn’t hit the mark on all cyclinders

The Big Screen: Simple storyline with an intriguing premise and quality acting

The Final Bill: A guilty pleasure stream that is just awkward enough to make you tingle

-S2S: Movie Review
Director: Michael Cristofer
Writer: Michael Cristofer
Stars: Tye Sheridan, Ana de Armas, Helen Hunt, John Leguizamo | See full cast & crew »
Rating: R (very slight nudity and a little language)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Runtime: 1 hour 27 minutes
Platform: Netflix

Hey everyone! It’s been a tough week in the real world and I implore you all to seek solace in the company of friends and family. Seek love and share love because love and caring for others is how we will begin to heal. While healing through caring and understanding, we should also call for action from politicians to make change from that place of healing. But until then let’s watch a movie or two, shall we?

This weekend I was struck by the simple title on my Netflix list, The Night Clerk. Already intrigued by the title, the description of the movie sealed the deal. The Night Clerk follows a young man working the night-shift as a front desk clerk at a hotel, who finds himself in a sticky situation. His teaching tool is also his damnation when a murder occurs under his watch. Intrigued arent you?! Well, let’s dive in.

Tye Sheridan plays, Bart, the night clerk in a small cast accompanied by veterans Helen Hunt and John Leguizamo and scene siren Ana De Armas. Each cast member is pretty good, not perfect but absolutely believable, I’m side-eyeing you, Helen. The combination of the four is the most awkward and mesmerizing thing to watch. I don’t know whether to love them or hate them, but I’m invested. So I know they did a good job. In fact, without each actor filling out their characters, the storyline is uber normal with slight tweaks of humanity and understanding. Oooh! Someone dies in a hotel. Who done it? Let’s blame the socially awkward person we don’t understand. Yes, he’s awkward and more than likely he’s prepping to kill someone when he get’s older but that’s not the point here. You’ve gone off the deep end if you make assumptions in the movie early on. There is depth to this seemingly shallow storyline. I know it’s an oxymoron but that same contradiction is what makes the movie work. You’re screaming this doesn’t feel right but strangely it makes sense. I just can’t put my finger on it, but Michael Cristofer was on to something. I think it could have gone a little further. Just something is off to not make this really pop.

Needless to say, there was just something about this movie that got to me. It’s not perfect but I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. I knew what was coming but was awkwardly kept off guard. The Night Clerk is perfect for streaming because it’s just interesting enough, just familiar enough and just racy enough to get you to talk about it. For that, I must admit this is a guilty pleasure film of mine and I enjoyed my bowl of popcorn.