No Vacancy DVD Review:

I find that I tend to have much more patience with films if I enjoy the actors in them, and if they are attempting to do something unique. No Vacancy falls under this category. Although it is a rather poor film, funny at points but mostly just silly, the two main actors have a certain amount of charm which makes it difficult for me to condemn the film entirely.

Lillian, played by the creative Christina Ricci, is a twenty-one year old woman who is stuck in a motel room waiting for her cheating fiancé to show up. The only problem is that she wakes up next to an absolute stranger who has stumbled into the wrong room. The stranger, Luke, is in the middle of a
life-changing decision, and despite the immediate hatred, there is obvious chemistry between him and Lillian.

Luke is played by Timothy Olyphant, whose most notable role has probably been the antagonistic agent in The Girl Next Door, has mostly played smaller roles but has the charisma of a movie star. It is my prediction that the sooner a director takes a chance on him the sooner he will become a star.
There is a certain magnetism with Olyphant which makes him likable regardless of what he is doing. With Ricci added to the other side of the pairing, suddenly there is a great chemistry to the slightly flawed script. Had it not been for these two talented actors I don’t believe that I would have even made it through the film.

It is a quirky comedy, very similar in many ways to The Big Empty, another small film. The entire film takes place at a bad motel and the restaurant
nearby, both run by the same family. There is some slapstick, most of which comes off silly, and a few characters that work well with the plot as well
as ones that don’t quite fit.

Robert Wagner has a small role at the end as a pimp, which is slightly humorous, but not nearly as much as I think the filmmakers thought it would
be. Some actors have the ability to achieve laughter just by showing up in a film like this. Christopher Walken would be one. Will Ferrell would be
another obvious choice. Somehow Robert Wagner is just too subtle for the kind of film No Vacancy had already proved to be.

There also seem to be some plot points that don’t quite fit with everything else. Although it was important to show the owner of the motel and
restaurant, far too much time is invested in whether or not he will allow his daughter to marry a white boy. Then once he decides he will, far too much time is spent trying to convince her that she should marry him.

The DVD is bare, with nothing much more than the movie and a basic title menu. It shouldn’t matter though. Either you like the film or you hate it. I
find it unlikely that anyone will love it.

Ryan Izay

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