The updated ROAD HOUSE plays like an early 2000s movie. It is totally pointless, not as bad as critics say, and completely and utterly harmless. In this remake, we get Jake Gyllenhaal’s abs, a cartoon villain played by UFC’s Conor McGregor, and plenty of fighting coupled with a razor-thin plot. Yet, all of this is semi-enjoyable, thanks to a cast that looks like they had a good time making the film.
The cult-classic ROAD HOUSE (1989) is known for three things.
- Patrick Swayze
- The fighting
- And Bill Simmons’s obsession with it (listen to THE REWATCHABLES podcast for proof)
Is this remake as good as the original? Nope. But, it has a similar Western setup, where a character rides into town to clean things up. That simplistic approach allows audiences to check their brains at the door and have a good time. And I’m the first to admit that a good time while watching ROAD HOUSE goes down easier with a few drinks.
From March 22-28, ROAD HOUSE was the most-watched original streamed title for the week, with 1.7 billion minutes. Rather than listen to the bar’s rules, audiences failed to “take it outside” and instead enjoyed watching this movie “inside” in excess of ~142,000 times in only seven days. That’s a whole lot of visits to this unsafe dive bar.
Is it any good? You can judge for yourself and step into the fight by watching it on Prime Video.
