Storytelling at its finest, The Motel Life is a deep reflection on the human condition and brotherly love.

| Jan 7, 2020

The Motel Life feels a little too down-in-the-dumps for its own good at times, but sparks of energy supplied by Hirsch and Dorff illuminate an otherwise dreary film.

| Original Score: 7.6/10 | Apr 10, 2019

Too often veers from the road by misguided design.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 31, 2018

As a mood piece it works extremely well.

| Aug 10, 2018

The film is more downbeat than tense, interweaves animation sequences, and perhaps worked better in the original novel.

| Jan 1, 2018

A pedestrian, undeveloped indie clunker, its failure as a complete, satisfying story especially disappointing since the sibling relationship at its center could have been special with a better script.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 30, 2014

Watching The Motel Life, I felt that I was in the hands of someone capable of making a great film.

| Apr 16, 2014

There's definitely a niche audience out there that will love The Motel Life; and this is a film that deserves to be loved.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 10, 2014

The whole thing is deep-down conservative and wetter than a Labrador's kiss.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 4, 2014

The rambling plot may resemble a lyric from a mawkish country song but the film-makers bring an engaging mix of tenderness and grit to the downbeat material.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 4, 2014

The film is heavy-going, unformed and self-indulgent, with characters who are neither sympathetic nor (crucially) interesting.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 3, 2014

Stephen Dorff excels as a luckless hobo in this bruised and booze-soaked adaptation of Willy Vlautin's 2007 novel.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 3, 2014

Fans of indie cinema's mood-movie fringes, check in.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 2, 2014

Powerful, moving and melancholy. A low-key treat.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 31, 2014

This debut film does establish a fragile mood that lingers like a morning fog.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 2, 2013

As the protagonists wallow in melancholy and despair, they drag helpless moviegoers in with them.

| Nov 22, 2013

In case you weren't aware, Dorff is actually a great actor.

| Original Score: 3.5 | Nov 21, 2013

Love and loyalty often carry the day. But love and loyalty are not carrying the day now.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Nov 17, 2013

Sensitive lensing and acting render an unusual story of brotherly love touching in a promising first film.

| Nov 15, 2013

A bruised, purple plum of a drama that mostly connects as a mood piece about the muddy rut of low self-esteem, and belief that life offers no better circumstances beyond just day-to-day subsistence.

| Original Score: B | Nov 14, 2013