‘Road House’ bounces along on a wave of nostalgia in updating a guilty pleasure
CNN
The original “Road House” has long been the guiltiest of pleasures, with Patrick Swayze as the philosopher-bouncer immortalizing lines like “Pain don’t hurt.”
The original “Road House” has long been the guiltiest of pleasures, a movie that seems to be in a perpetual loop on cable, with Patrick Swayze as the philosopher-bouncer immortalizing lines like “Pain don’t hurt.” A 35-years-later update brings some of that allure to Amazon, with Jake Gyllenhaal as the reluctant warrior toting a bit more baggage, in a film that’s equal parts entertaining, silly and wildly violent (not always in that order). Among the departures, Gyllenhaal’s version of bouncer Dalton has a first name, and cleaning up bars actually isn’t his stock in trade. Passing on a layup, nobody ever actually tells him that, given his reputation, they assumed he would be bigger. Rather, the world-weary former mixed-martial-arts fighter gets recruited to the film’s central task by the new-ish owner (Jessica Williams) of a spot called The Road House in the Florida Keys, telling him that she needs help removing the seedier element so she can make a go of the place. Reluctant at first, circumstances prod Dalton to take the gig, quickly demonstrating why he’s someone with whom you should not want to mess. “Before we start, do you have insurance?” he asks a gang of motorcycle-riding hooligans before effortlessly dispatching them, which vaguely calls to mind the elevator sequence in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” Alas, “Road House” probably peaks there, before incorporating elements from the earlier movie like the conveniently attractive emergency-room doctor (“The Suicide Squad’s” Daniela Melchior) to whom Dalton sends a lot of business, and the stock bad guy (Billy Magnussen) determined to chase away The Road House’s owner in order to take control of the property.
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