Interesting coming of age tale about a chubby Chinese-American boy. His single tiger mother and grandpa own a motel, he does the housekeeping. He finds a sort of father figure in Kang. It varies between funny and tragic.

On odd duck movie for certain. Basically, an Asian kid is growing up at a hotel where his family owns/works the hotel. It's just a nice, slow story about day-to-day life? The kid never does much but some of it is funny and some weird. I suppose it does escalate toward something but even that is fairly small. I didn't like it really as I watched it, but trying to think back several weeks later, I can at least appreciate that it was different.

There's something special hidden in this odd-ball dramaedy but the film doesn't work hard enough at capitalizing on it and leaves you with a heartfelt but meandering story.

A different type of coming of age story features a young Chinese boy who is pushed into depression by his mother while he works in a seemingly dead end motel business. Very charming.

The story and the writing are of good quality. A story about this Asian American kid whose family runs this shady motel where prostitutes come and how he comes of age when this drunkard befriends him? Pretty damn good premise. It made for an interesting idea. I think Kang took the idea and stretched it as far as he could. Watching the movie and thinking about the premise again, I don't think it could've been much better. So maybe it was the premise itself that was lacking. Something just felt missing. (cont: http://somefilmsareok.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/the-motel-2005-film-review/ )

I expected a cute, quirky indie film. What I got was something depressing that left me wondering why I didn't shut it off 20 minutes in. There's some good acting, but nothing else to back it up and the overall feel of the movie is just uncomfortable. I wasn't entertained and there's really not any redeeming quality... just a portrait of someone with a crappy life.

Good movie for us Asian-Americans.

Very humorous yet touching movie. It had me laughing and crying. Loved it!

Well-done little indie comedy/drama about a teenage boy dealing w/ adolescence while working at his family's somewhat seedy motel and his friendship w/ one of the residents. Short and (bitter)sweet. Well worth a look.

excellent film about a young boy's coming of age. Ernest is a young man who works the front desk at his mothers motel where he befriends one of the guests whom is a womanizer and lives in the fast lane.

A nice story of a boy going up. Definetly a differant then normal life and yet still relates to everything. Funny at times, alittle disturbing at times and yet still good. The length is good and doesn't feel like it left anything out.

very sobering. one of the best independent films ive seen in a while.

I first watched this movie around the time it was initially released and was largely dissatisfied with it. However, I recently rewatched this film for a course I am taking at UC Berkeley that looks at the representations of Asian-Americans in film and television. Viewing with a more analytic mindset helped make connections between the characters lives and the larger Asian-American experience--particularly outside of California--that really improved my estimation of this film.

I liked the movie *---------*

Funny and sad. I like when movies have believable, not-so-glamour characters.

the film was a bit boring so i fell asleep. but it showed adolescence issue realistically. lol

I think the particular demographic of Asian kids who grow up in the motel their parents own (in this case a single parent) wasn't properly examined. Every ethnic niche must be. I'm glad this film examines it, and I think the acting of the protagonists playing the kids in question was excellent. And Sung Kang, playing the jaded korean playboy, was excellent too. He should really be upgraded from the typecast niche he's been given by Hollywood.

Noble attempt at a sweet coming of age tale...however, it comes across a bit creepy and icky in parts, which really spoils it.

this was a sweet movie with sad characters but just the right amount of humor to keep it from being depressing. Plus it was funny. :)

When I first starting to watch this film, I thought, "Oh great, another coming of age movie." It was disturbing and made be a bit angry, especially the part about the hapless mother who can't bring herself to be happy for her son when he wins a writing contest, and the little girl who wanders about the motel exposed to sleazy, bleak immorality. But, in the end, the main character, Ernest Chin, showed that he has a bit more character and integrity than the man who tries to corrupt him. Although the film was disturbing, it did redeem itself. It's not for everyone, but I'd watch it again.