Road House
Amazon Prime Video | Release Date (Streaming): March 21, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
19
Negative:
7
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
UproxxMike RyanMar 8, 2024
Look, I was skeptical of a new Road House movie. This new version certainly isn’t trying to replace the first. But it’s a worthy edition to the Road House family and captures the spirit of what a movie like this should be. Read full review
83
ConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerMar 20, 2024
Like in fighting, there are some movies of a certain caliber, which excel because they know exactly what kind of movie they’re meant to be. Road House is definitely a fun watch — because it doesn’t punch above its weight class. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMar 29, 2024
This is otherwise rough-hewn, hard-bitten entertainment – with an irresistible puppyish grin on its face. Read full review
80
EmpireBoyd HiltonMar 9, 2024
Expertly handled by director Doug Liman, wittily scripted, and boasting a wonderfully original take on the action hero archetype, this new Road House is a total riot. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeMar 8, 2024
Liman flexes his stylish direction, especially during the bloody confrontations. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanMar 8, 2024
The action in Road House is beyond brutal; at moments, it’s vicious. Yet if the movie is far more violent than your average action film, in its slightly crackpot bare-knuckle way it’s also more humane. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Radheyan SimonpillaiMar 25, 2024
Liman makes the most of what most would assume are flaws. He leans into the simplicity and familiarity of Road House’s premise, keeping the space open for big personalities to make it cartoonishly good fun. Read full review
75
Paste MagazineTerry TerronesMar 21, 2024
Even though the films feel tonally different, this new Road House is exactly what you’d hope for from a new iteration of an ‘80s classic: A lot of fun and excitement without any real consequences. Read full review
75
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiMar 21, 2024
The beefcake Swayze role, Dalton, is taken over by an intense Jake Gyllenhaal in this entertaining and, for better or worse, less mockable update of the cult classic. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 20, 2024
Because Gyllenhaal is a more complicated actor than Swayze, and more comically adept, the new “Road House” has more humor and more attention to the peculiarities of the central character. Read full review
75
The Associated PressMark KennedyMar 19, 2024
The action scenes are dynamite, layering POV camera work with great, thundering, bottle smashing stunts. It knows it’s silly, but it’s still a good time. Read full review
70
Vanity FairRichard LawsonMar 29, 2024
Much of the movie’s charm rests on its lead. Gyllenhaal doesn’t have the same warm twinkle in his eye that Swayze always used to such lovely effect, but he makes do with the rest of his elastic face. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekMar 25, 2024
This new Road House appears at a time when so much of our entertainment has been shrunk down to a manageable size. Even on the small screen, may its unruly spirit prevail. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreMar 22, 2024
Despite the mercenary nature of its existence, Road House is better than it has any right to be — perfectly enjoyable schlock that’s helped along by how unserious it is. Read full review
70
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMar 22, 2024
Though two hours long, the movie moves as swiftly as a greased ferret through a Habitrail and delivers hallucinatory action highs for its extended climax. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonMar 21, 2024
The main attraction, so to speak, of “Road House” is ne’er-do-wells getting their comeuppance, to put it as gently as possible. The amount and degree of fighting defy most rules of physics, respiration and orthopedics. But it is a fantasy, mostly, which is a blessing. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearMar 11, 2024
Both a great excuse to stage brutal fight scenes and relieve a more-ripped-than-usual Jake Gyllenhaal of his shirt, this modern take on yesteryear’s guilty pleasure is twice as goofy, three times as violent and a solid tribute to both its predecessor and the art of bodily harm. Read full review
70
The Daily BeastColeman SpildeMar 8, 2024
Liman’s work in Road House is downright captivating. The fights are oiled to perfection, cameras planted on dollies and tracking his characters’ every last move. The director is completely unafraid to experiment, using every last trick in his arsenal to make the crowd go absolutely wild. Read full review
67
IndieWireChristian ZilkoMar 8, 2024
All in all, this Road House is a fitting update to its predecessor’s legacy. Not because it’s better, or even because it’s all that similar, but because it moves with the same unselfconscious stupidity that fueled so many of the ’80s blockbusters we remember so fondly. Read full review
65
TheWrapMatthew CreithMar 8, 2024
Road House is a mixed bag of blockbuster punches and quirky set pieces that give way to hyper-masculinity in the modern world. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredCharlotte SimmonsMar 25, 2024
Doug Liman's 'Road House' weighs in with sizzling performances, a hearty helping of great action, a script that needed a much longer timeout, and the most self-assured identity crisis we may ever see on the small screen. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeMar 20, 2024
The film is (like its predecessor) no classic, but it would play well enough to a packed Friday-night audience in Megaplex 3. Read full review
60
CNNBrian LowryMar 20, 2024
The challenge with any reboot invariably involves capturing what people liked about its inspiration while bringing fresh wrinkles to it. On that level “Road House” moderately works – specifically, for the intended audience – with the disclaimer that trying to look bigger and being bigger aren’t necessarily one and the same. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 19, 2024
No one is going to mistake “Road House” for a masterpiece, but it succeeds far better at being what the original film set out to be. Read full review
60
Total FilmJames MottramMar 15, 2024
In the end, Road House is a solid actioner, a frolic that Liman marshals competently. This is a fun Friday-night fight-fest, best enjoyed with a few bevvies – brash, loud, knockabout and liable to leave you with a cauliflower ear or two. Read full review
60
IGNRafael MotamayorMar 12, 2024
If you can look past Road House’s horrendous cinematography, CGI fights, and poor lighting, there's a fun movie to be found. Read full review
60
Time OutPhil de SemlyenMar 12, 2024
The combination of Gyllenhaal’s easy charm, some Florida sunshine and at least one fight scene for the ages make this Road House worth stopping by. Just try to grab a seat in a quiet corner. Read full review
60
The GuardianAdrian HortonMar 9, 2024
You come to the Road House for a good time and some knuckle-cracking fights, and on that front, this film delivers, owing to some truly impressive stunt work, a fully convincing performance from Gyllenhaal in Southpaw form, and a crackling screen debut from UFC champ-cum-entertainer Conor McGregor. Read full review
58
The Film StageAlistair RyderMar 20, 2024
Gyllenhaal manages to hold this tonally inconsistent film together, but he’s the only person involved who has some clear handle on how this story should be told from beginning to end. Read full review
55
The Daily BeastNick SchagerMar 25, 2024
An uninspired cover song in desperate need of its forerunner’s fire and flair. Read full review
55
SlashfilmJacob HallMar 8, 2024
Once you squint and look past the Gyllenhaal of it all, there's not much on offer here. The leading man tears through a thin sketch of a story, populated by characters, performances, and even action that feel like placeholders. Read full review
50
ABC NewsPeter TraversMar 22, 2024
Star Jake Gyllenhaal and director Doug Liman huff and puff to reimagine the bawdy B-movie punch of the 1989 original with Patrick Swayze, but despite putting a fresh coat of paint on this rickety old jalopy, there’s still nothing under the hood. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubMurtada ElfadlMar 21, 2024
It doesn’t have much entertainment value. A by-the-book actioner that’s sunk by indifferent performances, muddled storylines, and stilted dialogue. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 20, 2024
The remake bounces all over the place with a convoluted storyline, a number of superfluous characters and two main villains who are sorely lacking — one because he’s a bland nothing, the other because he's so far over the top it’s like he’s in a Saturday morning cartoon. Read full review
50
Screen RantFerdosa AbdiMar 12, 2024
The script is mind-numbingly silly and, at times, doesn't try to elevate the remake meaningfully; it's really about engaging with the wild action and nothing else. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoMar 10, 2024
More damaging than underwritten character dynamics is the overall tone of “Road House,” which needed to be far more tactile to be effective. Read full review
50
ColliderMatt DonatoMar 9, 2024
A Road House movie shouldn’t be boring, especially this boring. A Road House movie shouldn’t have to enhance its fight choreography in post-production, nor should it be such a tonal mishmash. I guess Liman didn’t get the memo? His Road House remake is an uninspired chore that never properly unleashes Gyllenhaal or nails even the most basic functions of bar fight nostalgia porn. Read full review
40
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyMar 29, 2024
It’s Road House by name, but certainly not by nature. Read full review
40
BBCNicholas BarberMar 21, 2024
Like the first Road House, it's a guilty pleasure, but it's not as pleasurable as it should be. Read full review
38
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenApr 4, 2024
Bad in ways that are similar to 1989’s Road House—namely, an uneven handle on how seriously to take its silly premise. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 25, 2024
As with the strutting, dancer-turned-bouncer Swayze picture of yore, there’s an unreality to it all that gives Road House a comical lift. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineRocco T. ThompsonMar 9, 2024
Not quite a grim-dark reimagining of a cult favorite, this Road House is still a needlessly un-nice rework that takes the business end of a broken beer bottle to the soul of the original. Read full review
37
Washington PostAnn HornadayMar 22, 2024
If "Road House” were more fun, if it didn’t trot out its fight sequences with such workmanlike regularity, it might have attained the kitschy greatness of its predecessor. But it doesn’t aspire to much more than mining the intellectual property catalogue for a quick-and-dirty cash grab. Read full review
33
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezMar 20, 2024
It’s all largely an ugly, vulgar, vacuous time that’s disposable and never as amusing as it clearly thinks it is. Read full review
30
Little White LiesHannah StrongMar 16, 2024
Road House’s limp, jokeless dialogue leaves the viewer plenty of time to consider how lazy the whole affair feels. Read full review
25
ObserverDylan RothMar 19, 2024
Jake Gyllenhaal is the sole component that separates Road House from the sort of movie that stars stunt legend Scott Adkins and premieres on VOD. Read full review
More From This Movie

57 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL