Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Road House’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

There are some motion pictures that simply captivate our attention the moment we discover them. You know the kind the film. It's the one where you basically stop everything that you are doing at that moment and settle in, transfixed, because at this point in time, you simply cannot get enough of what is playing out before your eyes.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), often times those kinds of films are of a dubious nature. It's usually a B Movie, a rough one at that, and the film simply turns out to be nothing more than a guilty pleasure for us. We know our tastes deserve better, but hey, why not treat ourselves to a little mindless entertainment now and again. The fact of the matter is, we all have that one silly movie that sucks us in and mine...is the over the top, super cheesy... Road House. 

Now we aren't going to talk much about the plot of this film today. Because, if you're reading this you already know the movie and what it's about. Second to that, for the five of you that haven't seen this flick, go watch it and come back here when you're done, because despite the fact that this movie is rough for a lot of reasons...it's also universally beloved. In fact, for a film that makes you cringe watching it years later, people still watch and love this motion picture and I think it would serve us best to spend more time today looking at exactly why this film holds such a special place in our hearts, despite the fact it is a giant bucket of cheese.

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The first thing I think that catches you off guard and absolutely sucks you in is the fact that it happens to take place in a world without rules. Cause and effect is a big deal in cinema, where everything the characters do have major consequences for the most part, and while there are indeed some consequences here... for the most part the folks in this film do whatever the hell they want and get away with it. I mean, you only see local law enforcement in the film one time at the absolute end of the story, and every awful thing that happens in this film is treated like it’s no big deal when they arrive. But holy crap it should be. I mean a lot of people died in this flick, mostly at Dalton's hands and no one seems to worry or care about that. Not to mention the raving lunatic that Brad Wesley is. He demolishes a freaking car dealership with a monster truck and there's not a police officer in sight. 

It's something you simply don't see in cinema that often and that suspension of the real-world rules somehow makes Dalton more of a badass and Wesley something akin to a super villain and well... you instantly have to know how it ends. Which brings me to my next point. I think the film's greatest strength, believe it or not, is the sheer fact that it plays this entire, over the top story, as straight as an arrow. Nothing here ever feels like a wink or a nod to the audience. Dalton is portrayed as a super serious character and apparently a legend in the bouncing industry, which I was unaware was a thing, and well it works. You believe it and you buy it and all the crazy things that come with it. 

Because of the fact we are given this fantasy world where it's every man for himself, and because the film doesn't treat the over-the-top source material as a joke... the end result is extremely watchable. In your heart you know it's silly. You know few of the things that happen are remotely possible, but you absolutely eat it up. You want to see Dalton kick some serious ass. You want Brad Wesley to get everything that's coming to him you and don't want the story to end. It may be a B movie posing as something else, but I'll be damned if it isn't a good time.

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