Product Description From Academy AwardÂ(r)-winning* director Tony Richardson (Tom Jones) comes this "bright, amusing and provocative" (The Hollywood Reporter) film based on John Irving's best-selling novel. Featuring "a gifted cast" (LA Herald-Examiner), including OscarÂ(r)** winner Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs), Rob Lowe ("The West Wing") and Beau Bridges (The Fabulous Baker Boys), The Hotel New Hampshire is "intriguing" (Boxoffice), "impressive" (LA Herald-Examiner) and "fascinating" (Variety)! A motley clan of eight lovable misfits, the Berry family sets out on an adventure to fulfill their father's lifelong aspiration of owning a hotel. Their quest takes them around the world, and they greet every new location with their own brand of outrageous humor, practical jokes and just plain weird eccentricism. But when this tribe of oddballs encounters a healthy dose of heartbreak, they soon must learn that not all in life is fun and games and that sometimes the only thing you have left is the one thing that matters most family. *1963: Best Picture, Director **1991: Actress, The Silenceof the Lambs; 1988: Actress, The Accused .com 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
M**R
the stellar cast ( think the best Hollywood could offer you in the early 1980's) from ...
"The Hotel New Hampshire" just has a big heart, and Tony Richardson at the helm, directing with care, and adrenaline, visual virtuoso, while making always lovely choices, Even though the script is widely uneven, the stellar cast ( think the best Hollywood could offer you in the early 1980's) from a quaint, but essential Rob Lowe, a stubborn and wild Jodie Foster, a gorgeous Nastassja Kinski who's sensitive and romantic as the object of everyone's desire, a believable Matthew Modine playing greatly at least 4 different roles, the excellent Beau Bridges and Amanda Plummer, and all the fantastic others, make of this movie a truly enduring, bewildering, rather magnifecent movie. Perhaps a missed masterpiece! Still, a fantastic, sophisticated comedy that can be surreal, while still moving our hearts, and letting us see the mix of mystical and greedy colors composing a realistic, and surreal, grotesque society desperately seeking for the love, we humans should all be much more acquainted to! Great production design, set dressing, costumes, make up, and outstanding cinematography, cast and the unforgettable Tony Richardson, make of this an instant cult movie, and one not to be missed.
B**L
Love the movie, but is a fullscreen disc
This is a terrific movie with a unique story and good performances.I like this sort of offbeat movie.Jodie Foster is excellent as usual.This disc is actually fullscreen format.On a full screen tv, there will be bars on the top and bottom of the picture.On a widescreen tv, there will be bars on all four sides, if you set thePicture Size to 4:3 to view the movie with the proper aspect ratio.Depending on the player and the tv's capabilities, you may be able tochoose a Picture Size that will at least eliminate the bars on the sides ofthe picture - while preserving the proper aspect ratio. My widescreen tvwill only do this, via picture size 'Zoom1', if the tv input is not HDMI/1080,so I must lower the picture quality to eliminate the bars by using component videoinput.
D**X
An amusing odd family of characters.
Long before the fad of reality television, the only way we were able to get our fix of eccentric families was to go to the movies and pay a ticket; this movie harkens back to those days (which really weren’t all that far back). Jeff Bridges is the head of his family, an odd creative bunch to be sure. Jodie Foster, the pragmatic oldest child who is street wise beyond her years due to circumstances; Rob Lowe is the doe eyed innocent who seeks purpose; Natasha Kinski is the withdrawn beauty who finds security from the world by wearing a bear suit, that the family meets in Europe, who finds a home almost immediately in this family.
J**D
Odd but Interesting
I watched the trailer and having embarked on a quest to seek out on blu any 80s era flick I've never seen or previously heard of I found this intriguing because of the cast who went on to do much bigger and better things (Jodie Foster, Rob Lowe, Beau Bridges, etc). Eclectic cast of supporting players too like Wilford Brimley, Matthew Modine in a scummy dual role, Wallace Shawn of Princess Bride fame, Nastassja Kinski, young Seth Green) and I'm still not sure what to make of this film. Some terrible things happen to these characters that are really off-putting considering the kind of light-hearted fairy tale-esque tone. It's an oddity. If you aren't easily offended and can hang with a strange family going through a strange set of events this is worth a gander.
F**Z
Quirky, entertaining, odd story
An unpredictable and entertaining strange journey.
B**N
I LOVED this movie
I notice I am a little alone in this opinion. I too have read the book, and loved it, multiple times, but I also loved the movie. I thought the characters were portayed perfectly. It was wonderful to see them come to life on the screen.I didn't get to see this movie until I rented it from netflix a couple of months ago, and the reason I'm writing this review is because I came to Amazon to buy the movie, and I happened to see the bad reviews, and decided to put my 2 cents in. So there you have it.
R**A
All Good...
The DVD came in within the dates specified and was in the condition as stated...
D**W
Check in at the Hotel New Hampshire
This is a quirky film about a very different family - based on a novel by John Irving - it has a great cast - young Rob Lowe and Jodie Foster, Beau Bridges as the Dad and a great cast of other characters that make up a family you won't soon forget.
T**N
The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)
The Hotel New Hampshire (1984) is a comedy-drama-romance film by Tony Richardson and based on the novel by John Irving. It stars Rob Lowe, Jodi Foster, Nastassja Kinski, Beau Bridges, Matthew Modine, Wilford Brimley, Jennifer Dundas, Paul McCrane, Wallace Shawn, Amanda Plummer, and Seth Green. Known predominantly for it's oddball characters, The Hotel New Hampshire follows a family whose life has more than it's fair share of catastrophes, but who battle on nevertheless.Win Berry (Bridges) and his wife (Lisa Banes) open The Hotel New Hampshire in the 1950s, along with their children John (Lowe), Franny (Foster), Frank (McCrane), Lilly (Dundas), and Egg (Seth Green). During this part of the film, the family are cursed with bad luck and unexpected surprises: Franny is raped by the high school football captain, Chip (Modine); John falls in love with Franny; Frank confesses that he is homosexual; the family dog, Sorrow, dies and is subsequently stuffed by Frank; and their grandfather, Iowa Bob (Brimley), dies of a heart attack after witnessing the eerie return of sorrow on wheels.Freud (Shawn) invites them to Austria and so begins another chapter in their lives. Freud's place - the ghasthaus - is peopled by prostitutes and radicals, who reside upstairs and in the basement. Here, Franny meets and falls for Ernst (Modine) - Chip's doppelganger and a radical - and Susie the Bear (Kinski), a reclusive lesbian who spends most of her time in a bear costume, falls for Franny. John and Susie try and keep Ernst away from Franny, both being smitten with her. Things become complicated and Franny starts seeing both Susie and Ernst, whilst John sleeps with one of the radicals, Miss Misscariage (Plummer), who becomes friendly with the family.The radicals, meanwhile, are planning to blow up the Vienna State Opera and the film ends with the Berry family and Freud trying to prevent this from happening. The phrase ''keep passing the open windows'' is used throughout the film. The Berry family adopt this saying to encourage each other to keep going, no matter what life throws at them. Whether the radicals are stopped, or the Berry family keep passing the open windows and live happily ever after ... well, that's up to you to find out.The Hotel New Hampshire is available in various DVD editions, although I have not come across a special edition as yet.. I first watched it on VHS in the mid-eighties when I was getting through all the new brat pack movies at the time (About Last Night, The Breakfast Club, Class, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Lucas, No Man's Land, The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, Pretty in Pink, Red Dawn, Sixteen Candles, St. Elmo's Fire, War Games, Youngblood et al). It was a good time for being a teenager with all these teen movies being made.I would recommend The Hotel New Hampshire to those who like off-beat films, or those who have a very odd sense of humour. This is not straightforward slapstick humour, is dark in places, and can be upsetting. It is littered with idiosyncratic characters, heavy sexual language, and some scenes will only suit the broad minded amongst moviegoers. The pace is choppy, the story and characters never fixed or able to properly pin down. There are nevertheless some hilarious scenes here and Richardson has chosen a cast who work well together. It is well-made and shows that sometimes a great movie can be born out of a great novel.Keep passing the open windows, but don't pass on The Hotel New Hampshire.
A**R
Ok
Plays without issue
M**Y
A 'must see' film
An excellent cast and the film is as entertaining now as when I first saw it. I really must get round to reading the book just to see how close to the story the film follows.
K**L
Emotional and cozy
An 80s classic, but this story could easily happen to any generation. This film has brought up feelings and memories of my own childhood. A very emotional watch, sometimes very happy and fun, others not so, but all good. Perfect movie to watch on a rainy afternoon or winter's day. Love it.
J**H
Five Stars
Dated but still very good. So 'OUT ' there
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1 month ago
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