The original Roadhouse is an 80s classic. The star of Dirty Dancing, in mom jeans, with a feathered mullet, kicking ass shouldn’t work. It just does. The combination of a no-nonsense plot, a great supporting cast, and a script packed with quotable lines means it is a firm favorite.
So when the news broke it was to be remade it felt like a 50/50 play. Dreading it, yet also strangely curious to see what they would do with it.
News that it would be directed by Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow, The Bourne Identity) and star Jake Gyllenhaal piqued our interest. Well, maybe they were going to take this whole thing seriously after all.
One thing is for sure. The original was a “guy” movie. It sounds like the remake is also a “guy” movie, as Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke has been upsetting people about it, primarily Gyllenhaal’s agent Ari Emanuel, CEO at WME.
Salke sent it straight to streaming and Emanuel managed to convince Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to screen the film himself on his yacht in the hope that Bezos would love the movie so much that he pushed for it to get a theatrical release.
Variety has separately reported that Roadhouse is one of the highest-tested movies of Liman’s career with test audiences loving it. Despite all of this, Salke has refused to budge. What…? You genuinely expected a woman to change her mind? To say “You know what guys, I was wrong, let’s change plans?” Oh, you sweet summer children.
This version of Roadhouse follows a former UFC fighter who takes a job as a bouncer at a rough-and-tumble roadhouse in the Florida Keys but soon discovers that not everything is what it seems in this tropical paradise.
Conor McGregor, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Lukas Gage, Hannah Love Lanier, Travis Van Winkle, B.K. Cannon, Arturo Castro, Dominique Columbus, Beau Knapp, and Bob Menery co-star.
The release date on Prime is yet to be finalized.
Check back every day for movie news and reviews at the Last Movie Outpost
