Movie Review: Road House

What to say about a movie like Road House? Well for starters, is it any good? I suppose that depends on you and what exactly you want out of a movie like this. It doesn’t really have anything meaningful to say, though that isn’t necessarily a problem. The attractive cast seem to be enjoying themselves, which does improve the watchability. The plot is ridiculous but easy enough to follow, so sort of a mixed bag there. Director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Go) does have a way with fight scenes, here imbuing them with a crunchy realism that many modern blockbusters lack. But somehow it all adds up to a decidedly mediocre experience.

Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) is getting by hustling amateur fighters for money when he is approached by Frankie (Jessica Williams), who owns a roadhouse in the Florida Keys called (wait for it) Road House. While her bar always had a bit of a rough reputation, lately it has been the target of a vicious group of bikers who relish coming in and trashing the place on a nightly basis, and so she needs someone like Dalton to chase them off. He initially turns her down, but ultimately relents and hops on the next bus South.

When he arrives, Frankie and the rest of her staff are relieved to see him and he is put to work immediately. The percentage of patrons who spontaneously begin fighting each other is comically high (if this is what a few beers does to you, perhaps you should look into a different pastime), but Dalton makes short work of them. Eventually, the aforementioned bikers arrive and prove too inept to be a problem or to even be described as “vicious”.

They aren’t working alone, however. Their boss Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussen, relishing the opportunity to play a cartoonish villain) is trying to get the land the Road House sits on for his imprisoned father’s company in order to build a colossal seaside resort, and had hired the “gang” to scare Frankie into selling. Despite his incarceration, his father is disappointed in Ben’s lack of progress, and so reaches out to random lunatic Knox (Conor McGregor, unsurprisingly convincing in the role) and hires him to take care of things instead.

There are several other side characters, but they aren’t given very much to do and despite the best efforts of those portraying them aren’t all that memorable. Alas, there’s only so much an actor can do with such thinly written material. At least the movie seems aware of its own silliness, tossing off the occasional joke about it. At one point Dalton even asks his love interest Ellie (Daniela Melchior) why everyone in town seems to be so aggressive (perhaps it’s because none of them look like they could actually afford to live in the Keys). All that aside, the only real reason to watch a movie like Road House is for the fighting, and it does excel in that department, executing those scenes with a visceral and frenetic style that is hard to look away from. It’s all kind of cheesy and dumb, but it’s largely pretty fun. If that sounds like a good time to you, knock yourself out. ★★★