Ana De Armas is on a role right now fresh off of Knives Out and appearing in the upcoming James Bond film No Time To Die. Now she is joining a great cast including John Leguizamo, Helen Hunt and Tye Sheridan leading the charge for the film The Night Clerk. Could this thriller offer up something that voyeurs can appreciate or will it be a hotel not worth staying at?

 

The Night Clerk follows a young, socially challenged hotel clerk who witnesses a murder in one of the rooms, but his suspicious actions land him as the lead detective’s number one suspect while on duty. I actually skipped the trailer on this one, but being a big fan of both De Armas and Leguizamo I was already all in and hoping for something great. While it was a different film that I had expected it works for the most part to deliver a good old school thriller.

 

Initially the film is a bit slow as we are introduced to Sheridan’s character. With very little information initially given about him, he comes off creepy as it sets everything up. Once we get into the meat of the story and his issues are revealed which are already pretty clear without saying it is still creepy but a bit more understood. I was expecting a bit more of an aggressive pace at this point, but to my surprise it keeps things moving slow and kind of all over the place. This is partly due to it trying to establish a relationship that serves a bigger purpose in the story, but with everything going on it feels like a different movie all together.

 

I was worried that a lot of the cast were going to end up being glorified cameos, but thankfully that was not the case. The always great Leguizamo is good in the role of the detective trying to solve the case and for once isn’t a character that comes off as a prick. Instead it is an officer trying to just find the truth and doing his job. Hunt has the least to do as Sheridan’s mother, but does a good job with the time she has. De Armas comes in bit later in the film, but then is a constant throughout. I really dug the scenes with her and Sheridan who pretty much has to carry the whole film. He does a good job with the role bringing the innocence and confusion to the character who is dealing with his own social challenges.

 

In the end it is a decent thriller that felt old school and despite being fairly predictable worth the time checking out. If you are a fan of any of the cast or just like a decent thriller then give The Night Clerk a try when it hits DVD on April 7th from Paramount Home Entertainment.