Road House (2024)

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchio, Conor McGregor, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, B.K. Cannon, Joaquim de Almeida, Post Malone, Lukas Gage, Dominique Columbus, Arturo Castro, JD Pardo, Beau Knapp, Hannah Love Lanier, Kevin Carroll
Directed by: Doug Liman
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Thriller
2024

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A former UFC fighter (Jake Gyllenhaal) begins working as a bouncer at a Florida roadhouse. A local businessman (Billy Magnussen) is desperate for the bar to close, so he throws all his goons at stopping him.

Review:

Tim: Did we seriously need a remake of Road House? After watching Doug Liman's film, the answer is a resounding "Yes!" I have to admit, I'm so thoroughly impressed with this movie. I know fans of the original will skewer me for this, but I think this movie is better. It takes the utter ridiculousness of the original concept and decides to have as much fun with it as humanely possible. The script is incredible. I found myself laughing continually and having so much fun with this film. This is entertainment personified. While it does have a few blatant flaws, I still had a blast watching this movie.

I can't say enough about the script. It's genius. Dalton's wisecracks had me rolling, in stitches at times. The balance of absurd humor, bloody, gruesome violence, a bit of romance, and a lot of character drama is all melded so well together. This is a big popcorn film. It's a movie that admits the whole concept is pretty insane, but it's driven to leverage every single ounce of fun out of the concept. You don't see movies like this- that are able to provide so much pure entertainment while doing so many other things well. Like I said, the movie isn't quite great- but it gets so close, I couldn't believe it.

The script is fantastic, but you have to bow down in awe of the performance of Jake Gyllenhaal. He's long been one of my favorite actors and this role further solidifies his greatness. He's obviously in peak physical shape, but it's his comedic delivery that makes the movie. He has so many funny one liners, so many charismatic moments that I found myself with a huge grin watching his performance. Gyllenhaal throws himself completely into this film- he hits so many lines with the perfect delivery, he hits Connor McGregor in a number of fight scenes- he just hits things out of the park. Gyllenhaal's performance is the perfect amount of over-the-top. He's having so much fun with the role and that becomes contagious for the audience. I truly loved the work he did here.

You can't quite say the same for McGregor. His performance isn't good, but it's energetic. McGregor puts a ton into his ridiculous role and he looks like such a formidable opponent, you can't help but be impressed. His weird grin didn't quite sell me, but overall, I think he worked as much as he didn't. Not a good performance, but it was at least serviceable. Daniela Melchior added a nice supporting performance, but I wish she was given more to do. Her introduction scene is great, but then she quickly fades into "the love interest". Billy Magnussen was chewing scenery in a role that's perfect for him. He's so excellent at playing these cocky, pretentious pricks that you love to hate. He certainly accomplishes that here. I liked seeing Jessica Williams here- she's been impressing lately (check out Shrinking) and she does good work here. Arturo Castro was one of the funniest parts of this film. I love the commitment to the bit with him and nearly every time he opened his mouth, I was laughing. Castro's role is small, but his contribution is mighty. Lukas Gage was good- I really enjoyed his performance. Dominique Columbus was likewise effective as well. B.J. Cannon did well with a small scene. As a whole, Liman utilizes his cast very effectively- it might not be comprised of "A" listers, but they all work exceptionally well.

The action was especially well done. There's some fantastic fight sequences throughout the film. Gyllenhaal gives a tremendous physical performance and having someone of McGregor's statue helps, too- he seemed legitimately dangerous and unhinged. I thought the film's approach to violence was fascinating. It absolutely uses violence throughout the story- some of the physicality of it is hard to watch. However, as much as it glorifies violence, it tries hard to show the other side, too. Violence has consequences. Rage doesn't make our lives better. The film might not quite capture the downside of violence as much as it needed to, but I was impressed that it worked hard to show a more well-rounded view of this. I appreciated how Dalton was examined and how violence has shaped and altered his life. It gave the film a bit more depth than I would have expected.

As much as I was so incredibly entertained by this movie, the film has flaws. As I said, McGregor's performance makes you cringe at times. The script also has a number of odd moments that don't make much sense. McGregor is involved in one at the very end. I won't spoil anything, but there were moments throughout the script that didn't quite work. I wasn't a huge fan of some of the boat scenes- there's one utterly ridiculous moment that just stretches our disbelief too far. I couldn't go there and I rolled my eyes- it's absurd and illogical. The movie doesn't have a ton of these, but I wish Liman had tightened these up a bit. Characters make some out-of-character decisions and the bad guys often do incredibly stupid things that will ultimately just hurt their own cause. Those moments throughout prevent the film from hitting "greatness".

That all being said, I really loved Road House. It surprised me- I didn't expect to be so wildly entertained. I get why Doug Liman was so upset with Amazon for not releasing this film in theaters. It's so good, it absolutely deserved a big push. Jake Gyllenhaal gives a performance for the ages and the gruesome violence, the absurd humor- there's nothing else quite like this film. I liked the original Patrick Swayze film, but I admit I never quite loved it. I think this remake is actually better. Who expected that?

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Road House (1989), Southpaw, Edge of Tomorrow, Mr. and Mrs. Smith