The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)

Tony Richardson's adaptation of The Hotel New Hampshire proves that the unique qualities of John Irving's fiction are accessible in print and elusive on screen. (Not surprisingly, Irving's books were not truly successful as films until Irving himself adapted The Cider House Rules, although some viewers will prefer The World According to Garp.) Here, Richardson distills the essence of Irving but misses the author's dominant themes; the result is a film that follows Irving closely and understands its characters without ever giving them complete and coherent personalities. Without that essential ingredient, this film--about the exploits of a highly eccentric and dysfunctional family--grows thin and repetitious. We're left to enjoy the quirks of a fine ensemble cast, and the resilience of a family that has learned to survive by "passing open windows" (in other words, avoiding suicide no matter how tempting).

Beau Bridges is the Berry family patriarch and resident free spirit of the Hotel New Hampshire, where his children thrive on liberal parenting, a parade of unusual patrons, and their own lust for life, love, and--in the case of incestuous siblings John (Rob Lowe) and Frannie (Jodie Foster)--each other. Their coming-of-age tales are often a joy to behold, and Richardson draws some excellent performances from his young, stellar cast. What's missing here is a sense of deeper meaning and resonance; the film seems oddly random, while Irving's book clearly conveys an affectionate fascination with the tenacity of the human spirit. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

for people who find running with scissors entertaining

Annoying film about buggered up East Coasters unleashing their ids. Jarring disfunction-junction setting that wants to be sick and cute all at once. August 11, 2008

Throw It Out the Open Windows

This is truly a terrible film, and not in a great campy-terrible, "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" terrible, but just poorly written, sloppily directed and edited, and un- or under-motivated.

One of the main problems was a genuine inconsistency in tone, where the director apparently couldn't decide if he was making a Keystone Kops farce or a bittersweet comedy. I knew I was in for a bad trip when, for no apparent reason, he sped up the film when Rob Lowe was making a football play, making the action fast-motion for no apparent reason -- a tactic he did a number of other times in the film, again for no apparent reason.

The story lurches from event to event without any character really developing his or her personality, so ultimately, you don't really care about what happens to them. Worse, anything that does happen to them is breezed by fairly superficially, as in the example of the deaths of two important characters in the film. What seems whimsical in Irving seems absurd and incredible here. Oh, and there is no chemistry whatsoever between Foster and Lowe. June 26, 2008

A chopped-up mix of eccentricity in HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE

That the exploits of the very odd (to say the least) Berry family contains some wonderful performances from the young Jodie Foster and Rob Lowe in Tony Richardson's adaptation of John Irving's THE HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE goes without saying; but the chopped-up manner in which Richardson has handled Irving's narrative also goes without saying that it is a terrible hack job that flits quickly from scene to scene hardly allowing any of Irving's characters to develop, much less breathe.What we have here, in short, is a ghastly mess of a film about "passing windows" successfully without jumping out of them! There are so many themes that Richardson has drawn from Irving's novel,but not one of them is followed through successfully, and the result is a jolting ride leaving the viewer scratching their heads and saying "What was he thinking?".The only two characters that seem to survive in this film are Franny and Johnno thanks to the acting skills of Foster and Lowe respectively, as two sexual obsessed brother and sister who pine for each other.The relationship between those two is monitored more closely than the rest of this rag-tag bunch of eccentrics who are given erratic amounts of screen time which does not allow their characters to become anymore than just someone "Passing a window" of which they should have all jumped out...including Richardson.This film suffers from misguided direction and an inept screenplay adaptation.Only the performances of Foster and Lowe are at all noteworthy in this throwaway debacle! No small wonder that it took Irving,himself, to finally adapt his own work in THE CIDER HOUSE RULES before getting a proper treatment of his always odd
characters! November 28, 2007

stange yet...

I really dug this film. The cast I thought was quite good. Although I agree that Susie the bear shoulda been played by Amanda Plummer instead of Natasha Kinksi.

A rather underated film...showing a bit of the lesbian in Jodie Foster onscreen..

There are some uncomfortable bits especially in the incest bwtween Foster & Lowes Brother & Sister.. But, all in all a marvel of a little film worth seeking out. October 6, 2007

The BEST

I agree completely with B. Alden! The haters don't know what they're talking about! This movie has been in my top five all time favorites since I first saw it 15 years ago. It is the best adaptation of an Irving book ever (and yes, I am a huge fan of his). Sharp, funny, memorable writing and a spot on cast make this simply one of the best movies. May 8, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...