The Reel Review
An ex-UFC fighter with a troubled past accepts a job as a bouncer at a roadhouse in the Florida Keys, only to discover that the local biker gang that has been terrorizing the bar is part of a much larger, organized crime syndicate. Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this remake of the popular 1989 action/thriller that starred Patrick Swayze, Kelly Lynch and Sam Elliott.
Similar only in name and basic premise, this uninspired Road House is one aggressively bad, charmless turd of a movie. The screenplay is moronic and corny, with embarassing dialogue by the one-dimensional characters and fight CGI that is as ridiculously fake looking as it is unbelievable. It’s as though the film’s committee of writers sketched out a plot on a cocktail napkin without any thought of how director Doug Limon (Chaos Walking, The Bourne Identity) would execute. The only bright spot is the setting, which actually does look like the Florida Keys.
The acting in Road House is as bad as it is directionless – as Gyllenhaal phones in his more serious performance as a one-man wrecking crew who snaps when pushed to his limits, Billy Magnusson (No Time to Die, Bridge of Spies) and former UFC champion Conor McGregor (in his film debut) play the villains as though they are in a ridiculously absurd screwball comedy. It’s very weird. McGregor isn’t so much acting as he is preening for the camera as the frequently (and pointlessly) bare-assed psychopath. Daniela Melchior (The Suicide Squad), Lukas Gage (The White Lotus) and Jessica Williams (Shrinking) have almost non-existent roles as the respective love interest, bartender/bouncer and bar owner. This is one Road House that should have remained closed.
REEL FACTS
• Jake Gyllenhaal prepared for his role by working with renowned trainer Jason Walsh, focusing on strength, conditioning and nutrition.
• Fights in the film used computer generated body doubles as part of a new multi-pass method designed to create more seamless looking punches and kicks instead of the more traditional fight choreography.
• Although set in the Florida Keys, Road House was filmed in the Dominican Republic, it’s main set even surviving September 2022’s Hurricane Fiona.
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