Jake Gyllenhaal’s remake of Road House rode into Austin for the SXSW Film Festival on a wave of minor controversies. The film’s director, Doug Liman, took shots at Amazon Prime Video for deciding not to give the movie a proper theatrical release. It will be available to those with a Prime Video subscription beginning on March 21. That brouhaha prompted Gyllenhaal to step in and say that Amazon was alway clear in its intent to go streaming with Road House, even though he respected Liman for defending their film, and championing the theatrical-going experience. These ripples would amount to nothing once Road House was released, so long as the film ended up being good. Entertaining movies tend to silence the noise.
Well, Road House is good. Just not great. It entertained the opening night crowd at the SXSW 2024 film festival… though that generous crowd tends to lose its mind at any film that’s marginally better than, say, Madame Web. But the adrenaline buzz that accompanies almost every festival screening should subside by the time Road House hits Amazon Prime Video, and people start to realize that outside of Conor McGregor playing a gonzo fighter for hire, the remake packs little punch.
The original Road House was a showcase for the late Patrick Swayze, red hot thanks to 1987’s Dirty Dancing. He played Dalton, a seasoned bar bouncer hired by an establishment’s owner to come help clean up their honkeytonk. Swayze’s Dalton was a pacifist, a philosophy student whose mantra (which he spread to the bouncer recruits under his wing) was, “I want you to be nice until it’s time to not be nice.”
That’s one of the biggest changes made by director Doug Liman as he modernizes Road House. Jake Gyllenhall’s Dalton is a former UFC fighter with rage issues who seemingly flushed his career after killing his friend in the ring mid-fight. His brutal reputation precedes him. He currently earns money participating in back-alley brawls but scaring opponents away (like Post Malone) because they know he’s lethal. It’s a creative choice, though the primal anger driving Dalton makes him less interesting, and more cliched than Swayze’s version.
The other major change is a location shift to the Florida Keys, which leads to some breathtaking cinematography – a “date” scene on a sand dune between Gyllenhaal and Daniela Melchior helps make the argument for big-screen treatment, alone – and an ambitious but clumsy boat chase in the film’s third act. You know what doesn’t come with the Florida location? Weirdness. The movie’s painfully lacking in humor, the kind of off-the wall unpredictability that the Keys easily could have provided. Outside of one hilarious incident with an alligator, the Florida locale is underused. Why not set this Road House in Missouri, like the original, if you aren’t going to take full advantage of your Floridian setting.
It didn’t hit me how pedestrian and flat Road House was until Conor McGregor showed up in the story… and finally, the movie wasn’t so humdrum anymore. McGregor (an actual UFC champion) provides the necessary spark every single minute that he’s on screen. His scenes with Gyllenhaal are the film’s most kinetic, and most dangerous. In every other confrontation, because Dalton’s legend surrounds him, the movie’s going through the motions. I wouldn’t want a whole movie centered around McGregor’s character. But Road House only reaches its fullest potential when he’s on the screen.
It comes down to this: Road House doesn’t give enough reason to justify the remake. The “criminal” plot driving the story forward is muddled and silly. Dalton’s reasons for getting involved are thin, and his reasons for staying involved are nonexistent. Our crowd cheered the loudest every time Gyllenhaal, who properly sculpted his physique, took his shirt off. If that’s all you require, stream away.
Check out the Road House trailer, as well as this collection of behind-the-scenes images that Gyllenhaal recently posted. Sadly, despite Doug Liman’s complaints, Road House is not going theatrical, but you can stream it on Amazon Prime Video beginning on March 21.