The Royal Hotel
A fun adventure is all they wanted.
After running out of money while backpacking in a tiny, male-dominated town in the Australian outback, two friends resort to a working holiday at the Royal Hotel. When the locals' behavior starts crossing the line, the girls find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.
- Year: 2023
- Country: Australia, United Kingdom
- Genre: Drama, Thriller
- Studio: Scarlett Pictures, See-Saw Films
- Keyword: tourist, female friendship, alcoholism, sexual harassment, cultural difference, female protagonist, gender roles, south australia, misogynist, woman director, australian outback, toxic masculinity, isolated community, pub
- Director: Kitty Green
- Cast: Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Hugo Weaving, Daniel Henshall, Ursula Yovich, Toby Wallace
Canadians "Hanna" (Julia Garner) and her best mate "Liv" (Jessica Henwick) take jobs working in a remote outback bar where they are expecting to make some extra cash to fund their holiday. They arrive, though, to discover that the "Royal Hotel" is anything but royal.... It's run by the curmudgeonly "Billy" (Hugo Weaving), his long-suffering friend "Carol" (Ursula Yovich) and is largely populated by lively, chauvinist, blokes who are partial to some "Dickens" cider... The girls are clearly out of their depth initially, but can they find a way to assert themselves in the face of increasingly unambiguous sexually threatening behaviour? Daniel Henshall's slightly menacing "Dolly" becomes chief amongst their protagonists, but there is also the slightly manipulative "Matty" (Toby Wallace) and their alcoholic boss to contend with too. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting here. Clearly the toxic mix of raging male hormones and pretty much unlimited booze creates a fairly hostile environment for the women, but the story sort of plateaus aground a denouement that really disappoints. There's nothing really new here, nor is there anything particularly innovative. It plays rather unkindly to mid-Australian stereotype and sort of fizzles out at the denouement. It had potential, but somehow Kitty Green seemed uncertain as to how to conclude and so we end up with something unremarkable and frankly rather weak. Garner and Henwick are adequate, but that's about all I can say about this mediocre offering, sorry.