If any streaming movie can be a “hit,” it seems Road house is a success.
The 2024 update of the ’80s classic recently debuted on Amazon Main video. According to Amazon, the film has already attracted “50 million viewers” since its streaming debut on March 21.
The new movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Dalton, a former MMA fighter turned bouncer at a seedy bar in the Florida Keys. As in the original film, the bar (which is actually called “The Road House” in this version) is actually a small part of a shady businessman’s attempt to control the local economy, and Dalton becomes the only person in his way. .
SEE MORE INFORMATION: Read our full Road house Analysis
The fact that Road house is doing well on streaming is somewhat ironic, given how much its director, Douglas Liman, was upset about his debut there. He was so angry because his film was completely bypassing the theaters he threatened to boycott his debut at the South By Southwest Film Festival. (Liman later changed his mind and attended the premiere anyway.)
Although I have no doubt that crowds in multiplexes would have eaten Road house above, the film also works well at home. As I wrote in my review…
Road House became a cult classic because it was fun to watch on cable TV. None of this was difficult to understand – or at least none of it made any less sense – if you skimmed halfway through. No matter where you started or stopped watching, you were bound to see some emotions, some violence, some sex appeal, and probably some laughs, intentional or not. While the cable TV movie ecosystem appears to be extinct, the new Road House would have thrived in it as well. This is the kind of consistently entertaining film that you could happily watch 100 times without ever actively intending to watch it twice. In the end, it builds up the atmosphere of a large bar; a place where you go less to get drunk than to absorb the vibes of the music and the patrons.
You can watch Road house now on Amazon’s Prime Video. The original Road house starring Patrick Swayze is also streaming on Prime Video now too.
The craziest moments Road house
These are the craziest parts of Patrick Swayze’s masterpiece Road house. (These are not the just crazy parts. But those are the craziest parts.)
