Film Review: Bart Sees Too Much

The Night Clerk is a crime drama film written and directed by Michael Christofer.  The cast includes Tye Sheridan, Helen Hunt, Ana de Armas, and John Leguizamo.

Sheridan plays a hotel night clerk who is afflicted with Asberger’s Syndrome and has a rather unusual method of trying to overcome the social mishaps that come with disorder.  He has wired up cameras in the various guest rooms and mimics the conversations he overhears in an attempt to be more in tune with those around him.  One night, Bart witnesses a murder in one of the rooms and is understandably reluctant to share his rather unconventional pastime.  Anyway, Bart ends up being reassigned to another site and comes across another pretty girl with whom he sort of connects. Meanwhile, a determined and wily detective has Bart in his sights.

The movie has an interesting premise and is not all that long, but it is a slow moving train.  The performances were pretty good and long time veteran actors like Hunt and Leguizamo does help.  I did like seeing Leguizamo in something other than the goofball he often portrays.  He is the shrewd detective on the case and delivers a pretty solid performance here.  Helen Hunt is also interesting to watch as well.  I don’t know much about Asberger’s, but Sheridan seems to have studied up on it enough to be convincing.  The actors were fine, but the story seems to be burdened by a lot of coincidence at times. There is not much direct conflict between Bart and the killer except toward the end.  There are times where the actions taken by some of the characters fail to make much sense.

In spite of the talent among the cast, I found this movie rather disappointing.