Writer and producer Drew Goddard is back in the director’s chair for the first time since the cult horror-comedy classic “Cabin in the Woods,” and once again he proves he is more than capable.

“Bad Times at the El Royale,” a character-driven film noir full of suspense and mystery, will keep you interested until the very end — even if a few moments drag and the run time is a little on the long side.

The cast of characters is assembled in a classic mystery theater sort of way, all converging for their own enigmatic reasons on the nearly defunct El Royale hotel — a former haven of entertainment and gambling for the 1950s and ’60s elite near Tahoe that hides as many secrets as every one of its guests.

As fascinating as the hotel is, the characters and their excellent actors are the great strength of “Bad Times.” Jeff Bridges is fantastic as always as priest Father Flynn, and Jon Hamm’s appliance salesman Laramie Sullivan is a hoot to watch. Dakota Johnson does a great job as a bad-girl hippie with a hostile attitude, and the up-and-coming Cynthia Erivo is an incredible singer.

But Chris Hemsworth steals the show as hippie cult leader Billy Lee, whose part of the story may be best left to the audience’s own discovery. But it might be fun to see if you notice that in one particular scene, he seems to channel a bit of Ted Levine’s Buffalo Bill from “The Silence of the Lambs.”

The rest of the plot and how it unfolds seems to be Goddard’s attempt at his own “Pulp Fiction,” with the interconnected stories of these characters and the rooms they check into, as well as that of employee Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman). That’s not really a major knock; who can blame a filmmaker for being inspired by Tarantino’s greatest? But the way it’s done is just derivative enough to make an obvious comparison: Each story is told in non-linear order that pertains to how the stories connect, rather than chronologically. And each segment of the movie gets its own title card like in “Pulp Fiction.” It might just be a bit distracting for the more finicky movie buffs out there.

As each shady character’s own story moves along, sometimes leading to violent and unexpected outcomes, they intersect in the third act for an excellent climax and resolution. But something about it feels like Goddard could have gone a step further with it. A revelation about a particular character is supposed to be more surprising than it feels, I think — though it fits rather well and adds to the social subtext.

There are some significant questions about the hotel itself, and a couple of characters seem to go completely unexplained. This appears to be done intentionally to add an extra layer of mystery, but it just comes off as a bit unfulfilling — and a bit of a head-scratcher once the credits begin to roll.

This isn’t to say “Bad Times” is lacking in the story by any means; it’s actually pretty good. But the characters are far better than the plot, and the spot-on casting is what makes the movie as good as it is, hiding a few of its slightly less bright aspects.

“Bad Times at the El Royale” is actually a pretty good time, and worth a viewing in the theater if you feel interested at all from the previews. If the superb cast of characters and the gripping mystery weren’t enough to keep you interested through a 2:20 movie, the soundtrack is absolutely loaded with great old tunes to sweeten the deal even more.

So, contrary to the title, you just might have a great time at the “El Royale.”

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“Bad Times at the El Royale” is currently playing at the Riverside Cinemas, 1017 S. Boone St. in Aberdeen.

George Haerle holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing for media and lives in Cosmopolis.