A Good "Almost"

Rating: 5/10 (7 January 2006)

HOSTEL is the story of two young Americans traveling through Europe (Josh and Paxton), joined by Icelander Oli, who tire of the crowd of Americans in Amsterdam.
Act I: Desperate to find easy and beautiful women, they meet a friendly European (Alex) who tells them an unbelievable story about a small city in Eastern Europe that has no men. They've all been killed by civil war. What's left? Beautiful women, of course. Alex shows pictures of him with naked women and the three men are convinced. Off they go! Until this point, Roth has written/directed a fairly standard and expected teen flick, with Josh as the shy and reluctant tall boy and Paxton as the gruff, obnoxious, and egotistical leader. Roth plays with the theme of American greed, capitalism, and imperialism, but only at a surface level.
Act II: Josh, Paxton, and Oli arrive at a hostel that is beyond their wildest dreams. Filled with beautiful women, a spa, in a charming little town, this will be their heaven until they can seduce every woman available. The women they meet are modern-day sirens, luring the men in order to sell them for the "exhibit". Oli disappears first, then Josh. Paxton, at first full of bravado, is now forced into action, and once he discovers Josh, his innards exposed after a gruesome torture scene, he's forced into the role of prey. It's only a chance moment, the torturer slipping, that Paxton survives.
Act III: Paxton escapes and enacts vengeance on several of those responsible for Josh and Oli.
Roth starts slow and gets stronger in Act II, but he can't carry the weight of either the anti-American theme nor the gruesome terror. The shock value wears off rather fast, though Jay Hernandez does a commendable job. However his is the only character that has any arc. Unfortunately Roth manages to tie everything in a nice bow rather than leaving story and ending up to the imagination.