Hotel de Love

1996 Comedy

A man tries to win the hand of the love of his life -- which is an uphill battle, since she's about to get married -- in this romantic comedy from Australia. Seventeen-year-old Stephen (Simon Bossell) first sees Melissa (Saffron Burrows) across the room at a party, and from that moment on, he's hopelessly in love with her. However, as he's crossing the room to introduce himself, who should get there first but his fraternal twin brother Rick (Alden Young). While Stephen is the brighter of the two, Rick is more attractive and outgoing, and Stephen quickly realizes that he doesn't stand a chance with Melissa if Rick is his competition. Ten years later, Stephen is doing quite well as a stockbroker, though his love life remains a disaster, while Rick is the manager of the Hotel de Love, a cheesy honeymoon resort complete with heart-shaped bathtubs for two and artificial indoor waterfalls. While Stephen is paying his brother a visit at the hotel, who should check in but Melissa, with her bookish fiancé Norman (Peter O'Brien) in tow. While Melissa is surprised to see her former flame Rick, she has no idea that Stephen still carries a torch for her after all these years. Stephen tries to win Melissa away from Norman, which given his romantic ineptitude is no easy task; he seeks advice from Alison (Pippa Grandison), Rick's girlfriend, who works as a fortune teller at the hotel, though the results are not what anyone expected. Meanwhile, Stephen and Rick's quarrelsome parents, Jack and Edith (Ray Barrett and Julia Blake), have come to the hotel for a second honeymoon, and they hope to patch up their marriage. Hotel de Love was the feature debut for writer/director Craig Rosenberg. more..

Director: Craig Rosenberg

Starring: Simon Bossell, Aden Young, Saffron Burrows, Pippa Grandison, Ray Barrett

Reviews

  • Hotel de Love is a pleasant and sometimes funny film, without being completely satisfying.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    26 April 2013

  • Hotel de Love, the directing and screenwriting debut of Craig Rosenberg, is like a Valentine's Day box of heart-shaped chocolates that all have the same too-sweet cherry fillings.

    Stephen Holden - The New York Times

    26 April 2013

  • It's glossy, dumb fun that is diverting enough but forgotten 20 minutes after it's over.

    Nathan Rabin - The A.V. Club

    26 April 2013

  • Unfortunately, Hotel de Love also has all the originality of an all-purpose valentine. First- time filmmaker Craig Rosenberg appears to have seen every relationship movie ever made. To his credit, he borrowed only from the best.

    Ruthe Stein - The San Francisco Chronicle

    26 April 2013

  • Some of it looks like a TV commercial, and the characters' motivations could have been generated by a computer, but the cast--Ray Barrett, Julia Blake, Simon Bossell, Saffron Burrows, Pippa Grandison, and Aden Young--is attractive and energetic.

    Jonathan Rosenbaum - Chicago Reader

    26 April 2013

Awards

No awards