Road House | SXSW 2024 Film Review

The original Road House is a quintessential American machismo classic revolving around a bouncer in over his head. Patrick Swayze in a way redefined an action hero for the ’80s. Despite not having the build of a Stallone or the muscles of a Schwarzenegger, Swayze reinvented the archetype to include a man of thoughtfulness, patience, and essentially not worrying about anything you cannot personally change. But he could also rip your throat out with his index finger. Little did anyone expect that in 2024, celebrated director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith)would cast Swayze’s Donnie Darko co-star Jake Gyllenhaal as the same archetype for a modern era.

For this rendition, Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Dalton, a UFC fighter with a checkered past. Living off of his own name recognition more than anything else, this Dalton is recruited by Frankie (Jessica Williams, perfectly cast but needed more screentime) to revamp her roadhouse in the Florida Keys that is struggling to maintain any sense of decency.

The locals, for reasons connected to land baron Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussen, a talented actor, though a tad over-the-top here) that become clear later on but also aren’t very complicated to deduce, are set to drive this Road House – it’s literally the name of the bar this time – out of business. Nightly bar fights, trashing of the establishment, and so much more are pretty common occurrences at this point. Dalton has his hands full, but he is not someone who can quit, and he will do anything he can to finish this particularly brutal fight.

Right out of the gate, Jake Gyllenhaal is surprise casting as he is such a talented, dramatic actor, but he’s also a fantastic choice, as he has the chops to pull off the comedic and Zen-like characteristics of Dalton and elevate the script’s occasional cheesiness. While not quite rising to the heights that Swayze took his rendition, Gyllenhaal does inject enough personality, grit, and wit to make both his performance and this film stand on its own two feet.

Just to throw a little struggle in his way, as Dalton is a badass fighter who rarely encounters true competition even when he’s grossly overmatched, is UFC champion and documented brutality expert, Conor McGregor as Knox. Called in as a last-ditch effort to stomp Dalton, Knox is essentially Conor McGregor reincarnated as the flamboyantly vicious alter ego of Dalton.

McGregor is a huge draw as a renowned fighter, but he is new to acting. Smartly capitalizing on what he does best, McGregor posits Knox with enough of his own stage personality – showboating, taunting, effervescent smiles aplenty – to win over even the harshest of critics. Though he stays very comfortably in his wheelhouse, McGregor enters the film confidently strutting butt-ass naked down a public street, and somehow keeps amping his performance up as the film rolls on. He’s the villain we all love to hate.

The only real struggle of Road House is that the script is a bit of a plodding mess. It quickly becomes evident that the why of it all really matters very little, and each character is simply a pawn in Dalton’s path to personal redemption. Even a romantic angle for Dalton in Ellie (Daniela Melchoir) and a sweet little girl that runs a bookstore (Hannah Love Lanier) amounts to nothing more than yet another connection to rile Dalton’s feathers and move the story to its next set-piece.

Despite being one of the best actors of his generation and crafting a perfect human physique, it was always going to take quite a bit to convince Joe Public that Jake Gyllenhaal could beat the Irish out of one of the most well-known UFC fighters on record. Thankfully, director Doug Liman knows how to stage and shoot a compelling action sequence, and if the fanatical crowd at SXSW is any test, he hasn’t lost his edge.

Blows are exchanged with ever increasing ferocity, spilled blood is matched by broken body parts, and the choreography is down and dirty. Each scuffle feels naturally realistic, even as the stakes increase as we approach the insanity of the final act, and the camera zips and weaves around each action in loving adoration of each punch.

Road House is a bare knuckle brawler of a film. It comes out swinging and doesn’t let up until both the story and the audience are thoroughly exhausted. Despite a thin script, this is a definite crowd pleaser.

Listen to our full podcast covering the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival on this episode of The Hollywood Outsider podcast: