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‘The Good House’ Review: Expending Emotional Real Estate

Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline star in a film that hides a story about alcoholism inside a soft focus romance.

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movie review of the good house

By Teo Bugbee

As a real estate agent and as the protagonist of the drama “The Good House,” Hildy Good (Sigourney Weaver) is a confident hostess. The film begins with Hildy describing her life in a small seaside town in Massachusetts, first in voice-over and then in a direct address to the camera.

In the spirit of blasé town gossip, Hildy freely offers her back story. Her husband left her to begin seeing men, and her protégé began stealing her clients. However, the secret that threatens Hildy’s happiness is one that she keeps from herself. She’s an alcoholic, and despite previous stints in rehab, she has not been able to give up drinking.

The film follows Hildy as she tries to rebuild her life and her business through working with her neighbors as clients. She even begins dating her first love, Frank (Kevin Kline). But the omnipresence of alcohol threatens Hildy’s stability. She can’t resist the bottle, and can’t remember what she’s done when she has one in her hands.

The directors Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky use the film’s style as a sleight of hand. At first glance, the movie appears to be a soft focus romance. Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline are beloved performers, still sharp after decades of stardom. The views over the New England harbor charm, and the score cheerily plink-plunks along with assists from the classic rock needle drops. The stylistic placidity draws attention to the disturbance of Hildy’s alcoholism, the way her drinking interrupts even the film’s genre. But the trouble with this cinematic Trojan horse is that the superficial blandness dominates the frame. It’s hard to feel the story’s stakes when the images are always indicating no danger ahead.

The Good House Rated R for language, brief nudity and sexual content. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. In theaters.

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The Good House Reviews

movie review of the good house

If you crave something deeper, and more meaningful, this will not be the movie for you.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Mar 6, 2024

movie review of the good house

The Good House has all the ingredients. They’ve just been overcooked.

Full Review | Apr 26, 2023

movie review of the good house

File this under movies that start slow but get better as it progresses, topped with a satisfying ending. Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline's reunion is definitely the reason to see this.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 2, 2023

movie review of the good house

Portrait of an accomplished real estate agent suffering from alcoholism and the disease of playing God.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 29, 2022

movie review of the good house

Sigourney Weaver's feisty performance as an alcoholic real-estate agent is the main reason to watch this uneven dramedy. The movie's storyline about seeking a redemptive comeback is handled better than the movie's storyline about finding love.

Full Review | Dec 28, 2022

movie review of the good house

While The Good House has a solid cast, it really showcases Weaver’s talent and versatility.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 2, 2022

movie review of the good house

Hildy deserves a second chance at love, but the core of the film — in Weaver’s remarkably capable hands — is her love/hate relationship with alcohol. It’s a relationship many of us can relate to. Weaver’s performance makes 'The Good House' pretty great.

Full Review | Original Score: 7.5/10 | Nov 28, 2022

movie review of the good house

The Good House isn’t a great movie but until its overly melodramatic final 10 or so minutes, it’s a pretty darn good one.

Full Review | Oct 26, 2022

movie review of the good house

Sigourney Weaver is the star of this movie but I wish Kevin Kline had been more than just a supporting player.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Oct 13, 2022

movie review of the good house

Playing with words and mood, The Good House manages a surprising balancing act between lightweight tone and serious subject.

Full Review | Oct 10, 2022

movie review of the good house

Sigourney Weaver is terrific, handling the role with aplomb. It’s a delicate balancing act with the shift from light comedy to weighty material. Seeing her reunite with Kline after two decades is itself worth the price of admission.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 9, 2022

movie review of the good house

Sigourney Weaver takes the ball and runs with a performance that strengthens a middling script and reunites her on screen with a frequent acting partner in Kevin Kline.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 8, 2022

movie review of the good house

An uneven character study that’s redeemed to a great extent by Weaver’s exceptional lead performance.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Oct 6, 2022

movie review of the good house

Don't expect flying on broomsticks or a Witches of Eastwick-type pay off here: This well-made dramedy about the complexities of single, senior womanhood is far more grounded.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 4, 2022

It's a great role for Weaver, who always appears so smartly in-control—we want to believe Hildy's delusions even as we witness their unraveling.

Full Review | Oct 4, 2022

movie review of the good house

The Good House is a movie that many will skip over but should spend the time with as it is just as engaging a portrait of New England life as Manchester by the Sea and every bit a showcase for the one and only Sigourney Weaver.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Oct 4, 2022

movie review of the good house

It proves to be a wonderful vehicle for Weaver who (inexplicably) hasn't been given a role this meaty in a long time. Watching her navigate between comically sardonic and tragically damaged is a treat.

For much of its runtime, this film is a pale shadow of its source material, a rote visualization of a story better suited to the page than to the screen.

Full Review | Oct 3, 2022

movie review of the good house

Weaver makes it watchable.

Full Review | Oct 2, 2022

movie review of the good house

What makes the film watchable is Weaver, proving to be an example of another recent film in which the lead actress gives a great performance in a flawed production. She gives a strong, multi-faceted performance but, alas, it’s not enough to save the film.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 2, 2022

clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

Not-so-great ‘The Good House’ plays like an alcoholism-themed rom-com

The charms of sigourney weaver and kevin kline are not enough to elevate this adaptation of author ann leary’s 2013 bestseller.

Remember back when alcoholism was a punchline?

“The Good House” doesn’t exactly hark back to the days of comic Foster Brooks, whose broadly slapstick “drunk” act was a comedy staple of the 1970s, but Sigourney Weaver’s portrayal of a woman with a drinking problem in the film is for the most part too cute for comfort.

Weaver’s talents are nevertheless given a strong showcase in the character of Hildy, a small-town real estate agent on the North Shore near Boston. We meet Hildy as she’s trying to sell a water-view property to a couple who can’t possibly afford it. In the first of many times she addresses the camera, Hildy explains, “This is how it always begins: with denial.”

Of course, Hildy — who has been losing clients to a former protege — is the one who’s in denial. After introducing us to a cast of supporting characters who seem like figures out of a Hallmark Channel adaptation of Sherwood Anderson’s “Winesburg, Ohio,” the film jumps to the middle of a family intervention.

Sounds like a sobering drama, right? However, as directed by Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky (who co-wrote the screenplay, based on Ann Leary’s 2013 bestseller, with Thomas Bezucha), the fraught subject gets puts on the back burner in favor of rustic charm. Turns out the setting is perfect for a rom-com — one that plays like the story of the town lush getting back together with an old paramour, Frank, played by the ever-affable Kevin Kline.

Hildy’s frequent asides to the camera could be interpreted as a signal that the character can’t face reality. But the film suffers from a similar problem, depicting her crisis with the blithe touch of a stand-up routine. “Thanksgiving is a lot to ask of a sober person,” Hildy cracks, before sipping a Bloody Mary. “In my mind, wine isn’t really drinking. Vodka definitely is.”

Weaver takes this conflicted role in stride. The actress may be decades away from her breakthrough appearance in “Alien,” but she still conveys authority in her bearing, which makes her character’s fall that much harder.

But even an actress this good can’t elevate the film. It figures: Forbes’s 2014 directorial debut, “ Infinitely Polar Bear ” — a semi-autobiographical story inspired by her father’s bipolar illness — treated mental illness as ukulele-infused dramedy. “The Good House” strikes a similarly cloying tone. Despite Hildy’s complaints about the high price of coffee in her gentrifying town, the film’s folksy score (by Theodore Shapiro) sounds like music from a feature-length coffee commercial — granted, with a central performance whose notes of genuine defeat and regret work against the cozy air of provincial comfort.

Then there are all the on-the-nose needle drops, including Donovan’s “Season of the Witch.” (Hildy is descended from a Salem resident who was accused of witchcraft. It’s a detail the film doesn’t do much with, other than to give the character some vaguely psychic abilities.)

“The Good House” has a lot of potential and features some attractive amenities, including dramatic conflict and a seasoned cast. But like a subpar property, it just doesn’t show well in a highly competitive market.

R. At area theaters. Contains brief sexuality, nudity and strong language. 103 minutes.

movie review of the good house

  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews

The Good House

The Good House (2021)

Life for New England realtor Hildy Good begins to unravel when she hooks up with an old high school flame. Based on Ann Leary's 'The Good House.' Life for New England realtor Hildy Good begins to unravel when she hooks up with an old high school flame. Based on Ann Leary's 'The Good House.' Life for New England realtor Hildy Good begins to unravel when she hooks up with an old high school flame. Based on Ann Leary's 'The Good House.'

  • Maya Forbes
  • Wallace Wolodarsky
  • Thomas Bezucha
  • Sigourney Weaver
  • Kevin Kline
  • Morena Baccarin
  • 36 User reviews
  • 70 Critic reviews
  • 62 Metascore
  • 3 wins & 1 nomination

Official Trailer

  • Frank Getchell

Morena Baccarin

  • Rebecca McAllister

Rob Delaney

  • Peter Newbold

David Rasche

  • Wendy Heatherton

Kelly AuCoin

  • Brian McAllister

Georgia Lyman

  • Cassie Dwight

Jimmy LeBlanc

  • Patch Dwight
  • (as James LeBlanc)
  • Jake Dwight

Paul Guilfoyle

  • Henry Barlow

Beverly D'Angelo

  • Robert Sanderson

Holly Chou

  • Lisa Sanderson

Chris Everett

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  • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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  • Trivia The whole film was shot in Nova Scotia, which stands in for Massachusetts.

[Emily has just discovered that her mother and Frank Getchell have just had sex]

Emily : [in waste disposal being one of Frank's businesses] Does he smell like garbage?

Hildy Good : [proudly] He smells like a man!

Emily : [disgustingly] Ewww.

  • Connections References The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
  • Soundtracks Time of the Season Written by Rod Argent Performed by The Zombies Courtesy of Master Marquis Enterprises Ltd.

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  • Runtime 1 hour 44 minutes
  • Dolby Digital

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'The Good House' review: Sigourney Weaver deserves a nod for best actress

Weaver turns what could have been a cliched comedy-drama into something more.

Sigourney Weaver in "The Good House," 2022.

Sigourney Weaver is a goddess. From "Alien" to "Avatar," she always comes through with something extra to make her movies remarkable. That is definitely the case with "The Good House," only in theaters, in which Weaver turns what could have been a cliched suburban comedy-drama into something funny, touching and vital.

As Hildy Good, a realtor in her hometown on Boston's North Shore, Weaver is every inch the successful business wiz, which has nothing to do with Hildy being a descendant of a Salem witch, though she is. Hildy is just damn good at her job -- no hocus pocus involved.

Still, Hildy keeps secrets. She's a functional alcoholic who's faking her recovery, a sham that sparks her adult daughters, the unhappily married Tess (Rebecca Henderson) and the unhappily artistic Emily (Molly Brown), to stage an intervention. "Wine is not really drinking," retorts Hildy, trying to laugh them off, despite the vodka she sneaks when no one's looking.

PHOTO: Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver in "The Good House," 2022.

Hildy's problems are real. She's basically supporting her daughters as the real estate market becomes even more competitive. Her protégé (Kathryn Erbe) is trying to steal her clients. And she's forking over alimony to her ex-husband Scott (David Rasche) who has left her for a man, all of which had previously led to a stint in rehab.

We know all this because Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky, the married couple who wrote and directed "The Good House" from the 2013 bestseller by Ann Leary, have allowed Hildy to address the audience directly in comments both hilarious and heartbreaking. The way Hildy says she can define homeowners through the state of their kitchens cuts like a knife.

MORE: 'The Midnight Sky' review: George Clooney's film finds its heart in its actors

Thanks to Weaver's impeccable comic timing and her uncanny ability to bring truth to a soap-opera plot, "The Good House" holds us in thrall. Since alcoholics often don't remember what they do when drunk Hildy is rarely conscious of her worst behavior. Her denial veers close to tragedy in the film's final passages.

The film comes closest to intimacy when Hildy reconnects with her high school crush, Frank Getchell, superbly played by Kevin Kline as a scruffy loner with a droll gift for skewering hypocrites. Despite his unkempt look, Frank is the richest dude in a class-conscious town that snubs him for making his fortune in the garbage collection business.

PHOTO: Sigourney Weaver in "The Good House," 2022.

In a lesser movie, Frank would be Hildy's redemption, the white knight ready to sweep in and save her. But Weaver and Kline -- consummate actors who costarred before in "Dave," and "The Ice Storm" -- never met a cliché they couldn't turn on its dumb head and invest with a tough core of intelligence and wit. They are simply perfection.

The film also deserves credit for showing exactly what alcohol does for Hildy, the way it gives her courage, however false, to face her demons. In grappling with something most addiction movies avoid -- the very real attraction of alcohol -- the film recognizes what it takes to break free and does so without preaching or fake moralizing.

MORE: 'Cry Macho' review: Clint Eastwood is a classic in every sense of the word

It doesn't help that "The Good House" film stuffs in too many characters from the book, though Morena Baccarin scores as a confidante for Hildy and Beverly D'Angelo is a standout as a blackout drunk who shows Hildy what's ahead if she continues to lose herself in the bottle.

Through it all, Weaver, 72, proves she can do anything as an actress. Having received Academy Award nominations for "Aliens," "Gorillas in the Mist" and "Working Girl," she is still without an Oscar. Her triumph in "The Good House" deserves to put Weaver in the race for best actress and to remind audiences what a thrill it is to witness a virtuoso at the top of her game.

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‘The Good House’ Review: Sigourney Weaver Captivates as a Woman Pretending Not to Be Under the Influence

Darkly funny drama offers both a star turn and a powerful ensemble, led by Kevin Kline and Morena Baccarin

The Good House

This review originally ran Sept. 15, 2021, for the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Like many an entertaining addict, Hildy Good is a great storyteller, providing withering judgments about the people in her orbit amidst all the latest gossip. But like all addicts, the stories she tells always exonerate herself and her behavior — she’s just fine, it’s everyone else who’s messed up. And so what if she sneaks wine after having already been sent to rehab? She never drinks before 5pm, so it’s not like she’s an alcoholic or anything.

Sigourney Weaver plunges herself into the role of Hildy in “The Good House,” and it’s been a while since this titan of cinema has been given a character with the complexity (and the screen time) that the actor deserves. Weaver’s droll comic style has surfaced periodically over the course of her career — for someone who came up alongside Christopher Durang, the movies haven’t allowed her to be funny nearly often enough — but here’s a film that gives her the opportunity to be both hilarious and tragic, in control and spinning completely off course.

Directed by Maya Forbes (“The Polka King”) and Wallace Wolodarsky (the underappreciated “Coldblooded”) — who adapted Ann Leary’s novel with co-writer Thomas Bezucha (“Let Him Go”) — “The Good House” gets away with choices that would have ruined lesser films, from giving the lead character a double-meaning name (and putting it in a punny title) to incorporating first-person, spoken-to-camera narration throughout. It’s also the rare movie that’s both a star vehicle and an ensemble piece; this is Weaver’s show all the way, yes, but she’s surrounded by townsfolk played by the likes of Kevin Kline, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Kelly AuCoin, Paul Guifoyle, and Beverly D’Angelo.

Sigourney Weaver Good House

The town in question is the fictional seaside village of Wendover, Massachusetts, a Boston bedroom community where Hildy’s family has lived for generations. Divorced, but paying alimony to her ex and financially assisting two grown daughters, Hildy is in perpetual motion as a real estate agent, schmoozing newcomers to town and making the rounds of local parties.

Those shindigs are less fun for her than they used to be — she was forced into rehab after her family had an intervention for her — so now public-facing Hildy has a club soda while home-alone Hildy cracks into her secret wine stash. Also participating in that intervention was Hildy’s former assistant Wendy (Kathryn Erbe) who filched Hildy’s contacts during that rehab stint and set up shop as a rival. Mind you, that’s how Hildy describes what happens, and over the course of the film, it’s more and more clear that Hildy is a supremely unreliable narrator, the way addicts tend to be.

Joel Edgerton Sigourney Weaver Paul Schrader Master Gardener

A local affair between neglected wife Rebecca (Baccarin) and town therapist Peter (Delaney), a missing child, and most of all, the rekindling of Hildy’s high-school romance with local contractor Frank (Kline) will push Hildy to a reckoning with the high-wire act that is her life. But “The Good House” doesn’t play out as a conventional substance-abuse narrative, mainly because Hildy has a such a strong POV that her version of events, no matter how harrowing or damning, never comes off as treacly or sentimental.

Which brings us back to Weaver’s powerhouse performance. There’s not an ounce of self-pity to Hildy, even as she begins coming to grips with the demons of her past and the pain that she has buried under what Peter calls her “Yankee stiff upper lip.” (Weaver could teach even “Fleabag” star Phoebe Waller-Bridge a thing or two about fourth-wall breaking.)

It certainly helps that “The Good House” provides a solid context for Hildy and her life by making Wendover such a vivid place and its residents so fully present. With Nova Scotia filling in for New England, production designer Carl Sprague and location manager Andrew Sheridan give us a full picture of a town, from vast estates to the beach where working-class families congregate to Frank’s half-finished house, with the drywall still showing. Sometimes, it takes a village to tell a story, and the town (including the deep bench of character actors playing the residents) plays a key role here.

Sigourney Weaver Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

If the film missteps at all, it’s in the last 20 minutes or so, where the writers perhaps overplay their hands at both metaphors and metaphysics, not that the screenplay hasn’t laid the groundwork for both. (Also, if Hildy’s ex-husband left her for a man, as she mentions several times, why does that man never accompany her ex to family functions?)

Those are minor flaws in a film that’s so skilled at juggling its tones: In the broader sense, this is a John Cheever–ish tale of a New England town and its secret infidelities and chemical abuse, with an unspoken but ever-present tension between the townies and the weekenders. As it draws deeper into Hildy’s life, however, “The Good House” almost resembles a horror film in which our protagonist is both killer and final girl, with the stakes and suspense emerging from our anticipation of her hitting bottom and just how bad that’s going to be. Instead of “don’t go in the basement,” it’s “don’t uncork that bottle of Merlot.”

It’s all too rare that audiences are treated to a big-screen examination of a woman’s inner turmoil, let alone a woman in the grandmotherly phase of her life; this one pops with both acrid wit and meaningful drama. (Not to mention that American movies where attractive leads in their 70s enjoy an active and joyful sex life appear about as often as Halley’s Comet.) Let us raise a glass (of sparkling water) to more movies like this one, and more roles like this for Weaver.

“The Good House” opens in US theaters September 30 via Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions.

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Alcoholism dramedy conjures sobering message; sex, nudity.

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A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Ask for help.

Hildy Good is an aspirational woman in many ways;

Female main character in her 60s/70s is financiall

Sex. A breast is partially exposed from the side i

Language includes "damnedest," "jackass," "s--t,"

A couple of car brands are used to explain a chara

Lots and lots of drinking. Most of the storyline i

Parents need to know that The Good House is a wry portrait of a woman with an alcohol dependency. Hildy Good (Sigourney Weaver) knows from her infamous ancestor -- accused Salem witch Sarah Good -- that "women who don't care what people think of them are hanged in the public square." So when she's accused of…

Positive Messages

Positive role models.

Hildy Good is an aspirational woman in many ways; she demonstrates compassion and truly cares about those in her community. But she also has flaws, including a dependency on alcohol that she smugly refuses to believe she doesn't have under control. A male love interest sets boundaries and treats women with respect.

Diverse Representations

Female main character in her 60s/70s is financially successful, supporting her entire family, including her ex-husband, who's gay. Characters in their 60s and 70s have full, well-rounded lives, including sexual passion. Characters with autism. Characters with mental illness (anxiety, depression). A few people of color in background/supporting roles.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Sex. A breast is partially exposed from the side in several scenes. Passionate kissing.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Language includes "damnedest," "jackass," "s--t," and a couple of uses of "f---ing."

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Products & Purchases

A couple of car brands are used to explain a character. Computer brand logo is seen in what may be product placement.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Lots and lots of drinking. Most of the storyline is about a character's belief that she's in control of her problematic drinking and that everyone who criticizes her is wrong (this is turned around by the end). Driving under the influence. Pot smoking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Good House is a wry portrait of a woman with an alcohol dependency. Hildy Good ( Sigourney Weaver ) knows from her infamous ancestor -- accused Salem witch Sarah Good -- that "women who don't care what people think of them are hanged in the public square." So when she's accused of having a drinking problem, she hides it from her family and neighbors' prying eyes. While serious, the movie's themes are handled well and delivered with humor, and relatability is likely to be high for those with loved ones who've struggled with drinking. On the other hand, those who are in recovery themselves may want to be careful: Wine and cocktails are filmed with detailed, longing attention. In addition to lots of drinking, there's a scene that includes lighting a joint. Language includes "s--t" and "f---ing" but isn't constant. The film is notable both for telling the story of a mature woman and for showing the fullness of her life beyond her children, including career, romance, and sex (there are a few glimpses of Weaver's exposed breast). To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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The Good House Trailer

Community Reviews

  • Parents say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

This movie depicts the alcohol to a T

What's the story.

In THE GOOD HOUSE, Hildy Good ( Sigourney Weaver ) is the top Realtor in Wendover, Massachusetts. She's invested in the townspeople, as were the ancestors who lived in the small town before her, including Sarah Good, one of the first accused witches of Salem. Like Sarah, Hildy maintains her innocence when she's accused of being possessed by the potent potion known as alcohol. The drama is based on the bestselling novel by Ann Leary and co-stars Kevin Kline , Morena Baccarin , and Rob Delaney .

Is It Any Good?

Hildy Good is an excellent example of a woman who's lived a big life and is still haunted by the demons of the past. It's a little about her mistakes, but it's more about carrying the weight of others on her shoulders since childhood. Hildy is the great-great-great, etc., of Sarah Good, one of the first women falsely accused of witchcraft in the United States. As marginalized women with tremendous strength often do, Hildy overcomes generational trauma by rising far, far above it. So when townspeople -- and her own relatives -- accuse her of being bewitched by alcohol, she's prepared with 350 years of lessons on how women can be marginalized by accusations and gossip.

That's the story of The Good House , though the witchcraft element is underused. Don't expect flying on broomsticks or a Witches of Eastwick- type payoff here: This well-made dramedy about the complexities of single, senior womanhood is far more grounded. What it's really about is portraying someone with an alcohol dependency who's in denial. Using wit and a charming main character, filmmakers Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky tackle the complexities of two topics that films tend to avoid: being a single woman in her 60s or 70s and alcohol addiction. And they manage to make it funny and relatable. And the acting? Weaver and Kevin Kline 's romantic chemistry carries the ease of actors who've played love interests multiple times. The Good House may not be the film audiences think they're in for, but Weaver is so good in the role that it's impossible not to be enchanted.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how The Good House portrays drinking . Do you think it's realistic? Is drinking glamorized?

Hollywood is often accused of ageism when it comes to depictions of older women. How does The Good House compare with other ways you've seen women in their 60s and 70s portrayed in the media?

What happened during the Salem witch trials? Why do you think Sarah Good was targeted? Do you think Hildy's statement that women need to be careful of their public image is still true?

How is Hildy shown to be a contributing citizen of Wendover? Where does her compassion go deeper than that? Why is it important to be invested in our community and the people in it?

Movie Details

  • In theaters : September 30, 2022
  • On DVD or streaming : November 22, 2022
  • Cast : Sigourney Weaver , Kevin Kline , Morena Baccarin
  • Directors : Maya Forbes , Wallace Wolodarsky
  • Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino actors, Female writers, Black writers
  • Studios : Lionsgate , Roadside Attractions
  • Genre : Drama
  • Topics : Book Characters
  • Character Strengths : Compassion
  • Run time : 103 minutes
  • MPAA rating : R
  • MPAA explanation : brief sexuality and language
  • Last updated : February 10, 2023

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‘The Good House’ Review: Sigourney Weaver Is a Witchy Alcoholic

David ehrlich.

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Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate releases the film in theaters on Friday, September 30.

“I never drank alone before rehab,” cracks Hildy Good ( Sigourney Weaver ), a divorced, 60-year-old real estate agent whose façade of grace and stability is crumbling even faster than that of the quaint Massachusetts harbor town where her family has lived since the days of the Salem witch trials; what’s happening to Wendover isn’t what you’d call “gentrification,” but the influx of chain businesses and white-collar types buying up all the colonial houses has made the place a shell of what it used to be. Hildy is on the verge of getting priced out, herself, and she’s not taking it well.

By the time we meet her, she’s already talking to herself — or to us through the fourth wall — with the performative casualness of someone who’s about to have the rug pulled out from under them. It’s a device that helps Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodorsky’s “ The Good House ” capture the deceptively cock-eyed tone of the Ann Leary novel on which it’s based, but also one that epitomizes how this weak-kneed adaptation sacrifices the rich interiority of its source material for the sake of something much broader; something that people might buy, even if they can only almost afford to invest themselves into a script this scattershot (co-written by the directors and Thomas Bezhucha). Like its heroine and namesake, “The Good House” is a drama that strives to sell itself as a sly and vaguely supernatural comedy for adults. And like Hildy, the film waits far too long to relinquish that happy-go-lucky idea of itself.

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Cringe-inducing as the Ferris Bueller-style narration can be, Weaver sells it with the two-faced panache of a realtor who knows the market better than her clients ever will, and spends most of her time — if not most of her life — waiting for them to realize that she’s right about how much their little slice of heaven should cost. This is Hildy’s corner of the world, and her roots to Wendover are so much older than any of the houses in town that they’re probably gnarled together in sailing knots under the soil. As a result, she naturally carries herself with a certain high-nosed imperiousness; the kind that Weaver has perfected during her post-Ripley years in films like “A Map of the World,” “Heartbreakers,” and “The Ice Storm” (with Ang Lee’s masterpiece of suburban ennui casting an especially long shadow over “The Good House”).

But Hildy isn’t only Wendover’s most fabled real estate agent, she’s also one of its most imperiled homeowners. “Buying a house that’s out of reach is a recipe for misery,” she confesses to us and no one else. “I bought a house I could almost afford, and if everything had gone to plan I should be fine. That’s not what happened.” What happened, we learn during a series of plucky flashbacks that seem to keep punting the film’s actual story further down the field, is that Hildy’s husband of 22 years (David Rashce) left her for a man and forced her to pay a fortune in alimony for the pleasure.

Hildy looked for solace in her job, but sales began to dry up as she fulfilled the Good family prophecy of becoming a full-blown drunk. She looked for solace in her underwritten daughters, but they turned into total narcs once she started drinking and driving. “It’s too bad the girls never met my mother,” Hildy snipes, “because then they’d know what a real alcoholic looks like” (the brief mention of her absent mother is one of the things this movie eventually revisits later as if it were a pressing mystery or a skull key for something that was already unlocked for us).

Now, Hildy cruises around town in a Range Rover she can’t afford and flirts with the sweet-natured waste magnate Frank (“The Ice Storm” co-star Kevin Kline ). Not only is he rich, but he’s a living symbol of the past that Hildy would love to reclaim as her future. Her ancestors survived in this town for 300 years, even when people were trying to burn them alive, and so it’s easy to imagine the historical failure she feels at not being able to afford her own house. The weight on her shoulders only grows heavier — or at least stranger — when it’s implied that Hildy is something of a sorceress herself. Perhaps there is no Hildy, only Zuul? No alcoholism, only an ancient curse? Whatever, cue up “Season of the Witch” on the soundtrack.

All of this business is set at a breezy tempo and scored to the sounds of Theodore Shapiro’s upbeat, Thomas Newman-esque score, as “The Good House” is happily seduced by Hildy’s fun-loving finish. Even after she talks us through her intervention we still feel like she’s got things under control. It’s that kind of movie: blunt yet playful, dusted with New England charm, and just heightened enough that Hildy’s neighbors are played by the likes of Rob Delaney and Morena Baccarin (the latter in the role of Rebecca, a beautiful newcomer who just can’t wait to cause drama). It all seems like the perfect recipe for a wine-loving grandma to get her mojo back.

But “The Good House” isn’t a wicked sweet romp so much as a crucible of self-sabotage, and while Weaver has no hesitation playing someone who’s desperately trying to balance herself between those two modes, Forbes and Wolodarsky are always tacking hard to one side or the other. The film clings to Hildy’s familial sense of self even as her life is falling apart, and while there’s some fun to be had with the rekindled chemistry between Weaver and Kline (whose low-key Boston accent is typical of a delightfully lived-in performance), “The Good House” is so aligned with its delusional heroine that her façade starts to feel as real as the anxieties its scrambling to cover.

Since Hildy is Wendover and vice-versa, which means that we’re also deprived a clearer picture of how the town is losing its own sense of self — a few soggy lines about overpriced coffee don’t cut it — or what the impact might be on the other people who live there. The background mishegoss with Delaney’s character is particularly threadbare, leaving us blindsided by a wild third act (in which two people go missing at once, and Hildy may have killed them both!) that only lines up with the other parts of the movie because it doesn’t. “We’re all pretty much the same,” Hildy admits, and perhaps it’s true that almost everyone in Wendover shares her urgent need for renovation. But “The Good House” spends so much time trying to flip away from its characters’ problems that it becomes hard to notice or care about whatever cracks might be growing in the foundations underneath.

“The Good House” premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. 

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TheGoodHouse.jpg

Contractor Frankie (Kevin Kline) and real estate agent Hildy (Sigourney Weaver) reconnect in “The Good House.”

Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions

The magnificent Sigourney Weaver speaks directly to us in the solid and resonant drama “The Good House,” and I mean that in more ways than one. Weaver delivers a powerhouse performance as Hildy Good, a 60-something real estate agent on Boston’s North Shore who is only starting to acknowledge she’s had a serious drinking problem for most of her adult life, and the work certainly speaks to us. But Hildy herself breaks the fourth wall from time to time to address us directly, whether she’s introducing characters as they arrive on the scene, tossing a sarcastic one-liner our way or making excuses for her alcoholism.

We’ve seen this device in so many films and TV series it’s long past its sell-by date, but when Weaver as Hildy talks to us, she does it in such a casual, offhand manner (with the other characters in the scene remaining oblivious, of course, as if they’re in a stage play) that it’s an effective technique, as we can see how skilled Hildy has become at massaging the truth in order to cover her tracks and excuse her actions. She’s lying to us even as she’s lying to the people in her life.

Based on the Ann Leary novel of the same name and co-directed by the team of Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky, “The Good House” is that rare modern-day comedy/drama featuring a romance between two older characters, and given those characters are played Weaver and the equally invaluable Kevin Kline (with whom she co-starred in 1993’s “Dave” and 1997’s “The Ice Storm”), it’s an absolute pleasure and privilege to watch these two gifted pros effortlessly commanding the screen together. They’re as good as they’ve ever been.

Weaver’s Hildy is in a spiral some 18 months after her family staged an intervention and she went through the paces in rehab, only to start secretly drinking the minute she got out. (Hildy rationalizes her behavior by claiming drinking wine isn’t really drinking, and it’s too bad her daughters never met her mother, “because then they’d know what a real alcoholic looks like.”) She’s also on the brink of financial ruin, after her former protégé (Kathryn Erbe) stole most of her clients.

As Hildy breaks open one bottle of wine after another while keeping up a running commentary on events, “The Good House” becomes almost too crowded with supporting players, including Hildy’s well-meaning but whiny grown daughters (Rebecca Henderson and Milly Brown); her ex-husband (David Rasche), who left her for a man but remains a caring friend, and a psychiatrist (Rob Delaney) who’s having an affair with a married woman (Morena Baccarin) who just moved into town, among others. (The supporting players are all excellent.)

Mostly, though, there’s Kline’s Frankie Getchell, a contractor who handles everything from garbage pickup to snow removal to house renovation, and though Frankie looks scruffy and is called a “garbageman” by some, he’s actually one of the wealthiest people in town. “There was a time in my life when I was quite in love with Frankie Getchell,” says Hildy, “and you would’ve been too.” As you might imagine, there’s a chance that romance could be rekindled after all these years.

“The Good House” takes an alarming and not altogether convincing shift in tone in the final act, taking on some deadly serious business involving not one but two characters disappearing, with the possibility both are dead. You might not buy all the plot machinations, but as for the sight of Weaver and Kline together again: That’s an easy sell.

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movie review of the good house

THE GOOD HOUSE

"sobering look into the life of an alcoholic".

movie review of the good house

What You Need To Know:

Miscellaneous Immorality: One of the more jarring things is the female lead’s habitual lying (she lies to those closest to her until eventually she snaps and asks for help).

More Detail:

THE GOOD HOUSE is a dramatic comedy based on the book by Ann Leary about a female alcoholic who has problems staying sober.

Hildy Good is a realtor in an affluent New England neighborhood. While she once was the first choice of realtor in the town, Hildy’s business slows as fewer people are moving to the town and her competitors are stealing clients.

Hildy also supports her two daughters, who often look to her for financial support. After lining up a sale, Hildy calls her daughters and lets them know she can help them with some extra money.

The movie quickly reveals that tensions were recently high among the Goods, after Hildy’s ex-husband and daughters confronted her about her alcohol addiction. The movie is entirely told from Hildy’s viewpoint, however, and the audience soon realizes Hildy is struggling to stay sober.

Hildy must lie on several occasions and hides a case of wine at her home. Hildy breaks her vow of sobriety whenever she closes a sale or has reason to celebrate. Hildy also finds a drinking partner in one of her previous clients, Rebecca. Hildy and Rebecca bond over their past experiences with unfaithful partners.

Because the movie is from Hildy’s perspective, her self-denial becomes more apparent to the audience and those around her in the movie. She begins to justify her actions but at the same time becomes dissociated from her loved ones and falls back into her alcoholism with reckless abandon.

However, things become personal after she reignites an old flame with a handyman named Frank Getchell. Hildy and Frank knew each other in high school and start to see one another. However, when Hildy’s habits with alcohol jeopardize several friends in the town, Hildy is hit with the reality she can’t control her addiction.

The overall message of THE GOOD HOUSE is to learn to ask for help. However, it doesn’t shy away from diving into the depravity that takes place whenever people are unwilling to seek help. While the movie claims that it is a comedy, the movie focuses more on alcoholism and its consequences.

THE GOOD HOUSE speaks to the many dangers of an alcohol addiction but ends on a note of hope. The acting is engaging, and the story culminates in a powerful scene. However, this moral theme is marred by some strong foul language and sexual promiscuity. Also, Hildy’s husband divorced her to pursue a homosexual relationship with another man, which comes up often. However, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution because of the immoral behavior and pagan elements in THE GOOD HOUSE. Though the movie ends on a hopeful note, it could disturb some viewers if they have a traumatic connection to alcoholism or alcohol abuse.

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movie review of the good house

  • DVD & Streaming

The Good House

  • Comedy , Drama , Romance

Content Caution

The Good House 2022

In Theaters

  • September 30, 2022
  • Sigourney Weaver as Hildy Good; Kevin Kline as Frank Getchell; Morena Baccarin as Rebecca McAllister; Rob Delaney as Peter Newbold; David Rasche as Scott; Rebecca Henderson as Tess; Molly Brown as Emily; Kathryn Erbe as Wendy Heatherton

Home Release Date

  • October 18, 2022
  • Maya Forbes; Wallace Wolodarsky

Distributor

Movie review.

Hildy Good does not have a problem.

OK, she has lots of problems. But drinking, Hildy will tell you, is not among them.

And if you were Hildy, she might add, you’d drink, too.

She used to be a successful real estate agent—the top broker this side of Boston, she’ll be quick to remind you—before her family forced her to go to (ugh) rehab. When she got back, her former assistant had taken all her clients. Now Hildy’s in debt, barely able to afford payments for her shiny black Range Rover. If that’s not a problem calling for a little Merlot, what is? (Red ink pairs well with red wine, after all.)

Oh, and then there’s her ex-husband, who left her—after 22 years of marriage—for another man. Awkward? You bet it was. It took Hildy plenty of whisky to crawl out from underneath that setback.

And her kids . Both her daughters are all grown up, but Hildy thinks they should both grow a bit more. Tess is always so morose and critical. Emily is so flighty and dramatic. (And still squeezing her for money, by the way.) And both are incessantly worried that Hildy will start drinking again. What, don’t they trust her?

OK, maybe Hildy is drinking again. A little . She’d be happy to tell her kids so if they weren’t so judgy. And really, she hardly drinks at all. Just two, maybe three glasses a night. Well, sometimes, a little more. But only when she’s celebrating. Or flustered. Or sad. Only when she needs a little pick-me-up. A little liquid solace.

Did she say need? Psh. She doesn’t need alcohol. Just wants it sometimes. There’s a big difference. If she needed it—well, that’d be a problem.

But Hildy Good does not have a problem. Just ask her.

Positive Elements

Obviously, Hildy does have a problem—even if it takes her, and perhaps even the moviegoer—time to understand that. The Good House presents itself as a comedy, but in many ways it’s more of a cautionary tale—reminding us of the lies we tell ourselves if and when we (or those we love) slip into substance abuse. And that, in itself, is valuable.

As Hildy’s story moves into a better place, she realizes that she’s struggling—not just with alcohol, but with other issues, too. And perhaps her unflagging New England reserve isn’t enough to carry her through. She gradually recognizes the need for a little help outside herself.

Frank Getchell, Hildy’s longtime friend and one-time beau, becomes a strong, positive force in Hildy’s life. Indeed, a flashback suggests that he’s been doing his best to help Hildy for years. He’s no teetotaler himself. So when Hildy starts drinking again, he doesn’t put the brakes to it. That said, he does tell her that he likes it when she doesn’t drink. And when she gets drunk, he does his best to keep her safe (even when Hildy gets mad at him for doing so).

Spiritual Elements

One of Hildy’s ancestors (eight generations back, we hear) was Sarah Good, one of the first people accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. (She was hung for those supposed crimes in 1692.) And Hildy, some insist, still has that witchy blood flowing through her, too.

People talk about how she can, apparently, read people’s minds—a skill she demonstrates at a dinner party. While she does give an impressive reading, a fellow guest attempts to debunk it. Hildy herself simply smiles, leaving guests to surmise whether it was all a trick or not. But she proves herself later as a savvy student of human nature—telling the camera that she knows as much about her clients after a quick walkthrough of their house as a psychologist might know after dozens of sessions. (She soon gives another “reading” that seems far more a product of her own insight than anything supernatural.)

Later, Hildy seems to be visited by a ghost with uncanny knowledge.

Sexual Content

Hildy tells us that Frank was her “first,” but their relationship didn’t last. In a flashback, when Hildy was unhappily married—and drunk—she makes a pass at Frank, but Frank rejects her advances.

“You think I’m unattractive,” Hildy mopes.

“I think you’re married ,” Frank says.

In the present, Hildy’s not married anymore. And when she swims both in her underwear and later strips off her top (we see the side of her breast), Frank sees her. It’s not long before the two launch into a sexual relationship—beginning with some unexpectedly passionate kissing and winding up in Hildy’s bed. We see them there together in the throes of sex (we see the side of Hildy’s breast but nothing else critical) in a scene that lasts … uncomfortably long. Afterward, an apparently naked Frank pulls back on his clothes, with everything critical hidden.

They kiss and hug and hang out in bed at other times, as well. But Frank once again rejects Hildy’s advances when she’s clearly so drunk she doesn’t know what she’s doing.

Hildy and her ex-husband kiss surprisingly passionately, too. (She scolds him for being gay, suggesting they could’ve had a great marriage otherwise.) Two married people have an affair (Hildy spots them kissing), and the two apparently talk about running off together.

Hildy takes a bath, and we see her from the shoulders up. Hildy’s assistant is often preoccupied with relational drama. A woman gardens in a rather flimsy (and cleavage-revealing) nightgown.

Violent Content

Hildy cracks a joke before she seems to read someone’s mind, asking the onlookers not to hang her as a witch. When she spies a rival realtor, someone tells her not to kill her on the streets. “Too many witnesses,” he says. Another gag involves a reference to “pistols at dawn.”

[ Spoiler Warning ] One morning, after Hildy drove home drunk and apparently blacked out the night before, Frank wakes her up and shows her the massive dent in her car hood. He tells her that a local boy has gone missing, and both worry that Hildy may have hit him. We learn that Hildy’s mom committed suicide. Someone drowns—also, apparently, an act of suicide.

Crude or Profane Language

Two f-words, four s-words and a few other profanities, including “a–,” “crap” and “d–n.” God’s name is misused seven times.

Drug and Alcohol Content

In flashback, we see Hildy walk into what she calls an “ambush”—an intervention by her concerned friends and family.

“If we’re really going to do this, I’m gonna need a drink,” she quips.

Hildy treats her drinking as one big joke. During the intervention, she downplays the fact that she’d dance with all of her daughter Emily’s friends. When her other daughter, Tess, scolds her for passing out in front of guests, Hildy says, “It’s called napping!” When someone reminds her of the DUI she was slapped with recdently, she claims she would’ve been just fine had she not hit that state trooper.

Because Tess threatens to take away Hildy’s babysitting rights, Hildy reluctantly goes to rehab. But by the time the movie starts, she’s started drinking again—first sneaking a glass or two or three of merlot, then spiking her supposedly non-alcoholic Bloody Mary, then drinking secretly in her cellar, then getting very drunk after closing a big deal.

It’s funny, and then it’s not. Perhaps just like drinking problems are in real life. Because so much of the story revolves around alcohol and Hildy’s relationship to it, it’s impossible to detail every scene involving the stuff. But it’s clear that until the bitter end, Hildy thinks her drinking is eminently manageable.

The Good House also reminds us that alcoholism often runs in families. During the intervention, Hildy tells us, “All I could think was the girls never met my mother. Because then they’d know what a real alcoholic looks like.” We hear about a few of Hildy’s mother’s habits—illustrating not only how her alcoholism impacted her and her family (including Hildy), but how she was also dealing with depression.

Hildy and Frank share a bottle of wine over dinner. And when Hildy goes to get another, Frank asks if he can smoke marijuana, too. (Emily, who’s in town for a visit, notes both the smell and the emptied bottles. Hildy, naturally, lies about the bottles—telling Emily that while Frank drinks, she doesn’t touch the stuff anymore.)

Someone smokes a cigarette.

Other Negative Elements

A boy on the autism spectrum throws tantrums and takes a toy away from a little girl.

Alcohol, in various forms, is often used as fuel. It powers everything from oil lamps to engines. And it powers plenty of stories, too.

Sometimes it’s treated as the gas that powers the gag—the substance that keeps the funny drunkard saying funny things. Sometimes it’s treated as party fuel—an essential ingredient for a good time. And, more rarely, it’s treated as the explosive substance it is—reminding us that its misuse can blow up lives.

The Good House reminds us of all three.

People drink to forget the past, to ease fears about the future, to fit in. Hildy drinks for all of these reasons, but one more reason above all: because it’s part of who she is.

When Hildy drinks, she’s charming and warm. When she drinks, she feels like herself . In flashback, she tells her then-husband that she only starts to feel in control by her third drink. She tells a friend, as they sip wine on the floor, that she missed herself— and now she feels like, because she’s drinking again, she’s back. Her identity is intrinsically wrapped up in holding that stemmed glass, sipping that cocktail.

“It’s hard giving up the old version of yourself,” a fellow alcoholic tells her. And it’s true. For some, alcohol feels like the mortar that holds the bricks together, the grease that keeps the engine running. But for Hildy and other alcoholics, the booze is corrosive, too—eating away at the bricks, chewing down the engine. And eventually, it all falls apart.

I’m grateful that The Good House conveys these difficult truths with such deft and, often, humor. If alcohol wasn’t attractive, if it wasn’t fun , it wouldn’t pose much of a problem, would it?

Unfortunately, the film brings a few other problems into this cautionary tale. The film is rated R, albeit a pretty soft R. (Indeed, The Good House was originally listed as PG-13 on Google before someone apparently thought better of it.) And while the alcohol is an important and inescapable part of the story, the sexual content and language easily could’ve been dropped.

The Good House is, in some respects, a good movie. Anchored by Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline, it’s funny and moving with a strong message at its core. But it could’ve been better.

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Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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The Good House (2021): Movie Review and Ending, Explained

The good house (2021) review: the strenuous disillusionment of a high-functioning alcoholic.

Adapted from Ann Leary’s novel, “The Good House (2021),”; Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky’s affecting film takes a real hard look at the creepingly dangerous face of alcoholism that Hildy breaks the fourth wall to blatantly deny for the most part. Her manner of addressing the audience to justify her drinking is, in essence, a form of self-delusion that keeps her addiction going. An alcoholic drinks alone, but she drinks when her dogs are around. “Wine isn’t really alcohol,” thinks the jittery Hildy as she stuffs cartons full of bottles in her basement.

Our lead is adorned with two daughters who care, an old flame providing her with enough comfort and warmth to keep her going arguably, and her work which, even though it has sustained her and her family for a long, is now suffering because of her intoxicated recklessness. So why drink? Why fall back after rehab? Forbes and Wolodarsky attempt to remove these exact problematic questions that under-acknowledge, if not completely invalidate, the often festering wounds that lie underneath and enable addiction. Hildy’s problems, no matter how hard she tries to bury them, come right up on the surface, showing the people and us around her that her every move is a cry for help–help that she would most likely shove away like a petulant child. But that doesn’t mean that one should stop trying. 

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She soothes, nonetheless, when her old romance rekindles with Frank (Kevin Kline). Weaver and Kline’s on-screen intensity growing with a lobster-greased dinner and dance leaves us hopeful for Hildy. But as wholesome and loving as Frank is, he is a clueless enabler at the same time. The earlier humorous approach of Hildy calling her blackouts “jackpots” gets increasingly darker as her addiction gets worse and slowly wrecks her life.

Weaver’s talent rescues a storyline that is often blurred by distractions in bringing more to the character that would struggle in a lesser actor’s hand. All of Hildy’s quirks and discomforts, her emotional unraveling hidden under the front of indestructibility that she puts up, come to life with the actress’ unmatched comedic timing wrapped up in the sinister cloak of pathos. With the charming romance made hopeful by Kline’s impressive portrayal of a loving man who will be there for her unconditionally, Hildy quitting her addiction, for the time being, is believable. But will she stick to it?

A Good House (2021) Ending, Explained:

Does hildy accept the reality of her alcoholism  .

The Good House 2022

When Frank, annoyed with her relapse, asks her to go home and sleep it off, arrogant Hildy, in her blackout-drunk state, throws caution to the wind like she always does and decides to drive drunk anyway. Being woken up to frightful news the next morning by Frank, puzzled, Hildy tries to recollect the previous night’s happenings. Frank shows her the smashed car and tells her that Jake is missing. Going crazy, considering the possibility that she may have hit Jake with her car and it didn’t register, Hildy still continues to deny her blackout. As the town forms search parties to find Jake, Hildy opens up another bottle and is left in tears when it falls down and breaks. Her ultimate breakdown starts taking place when she hallucinates talking with Peter and him reassuring her that Jake is okay.

When the cops, looking for Jake, find Peter’s lifeless body in the water, Hildy is expectedly distraught at the sight. It is not just the hallucination that scares her; it is also the fact that she has realized the real cause of Peter’s death–he ended his own life. Having another close encounter with suicide shakes Hildy out of her denial. She finally breaks down and begs for help. This time, she goes to rehab by her own choice and really strives to work on herself. The characteristic happy ending supports this film’s romantic aspect, with Hildy being carefree and content with Kline. As the two set out sailing on a lobster boat, the film’s message becomes clear. Addiction requires help. Help that one has to embrace with the support of their loved ones and their desire for a better life–as the very relevant cliche goes, “admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.” 

Where To Watch And Stream Sigourney Weaver’s New Romantic-comedy Movie ‘the Good House’ Online?

The Good House (2021) Movie Links: IMDb The Good House (2021) Movie Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Morena Baccarin

Where to watch the good house.

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I bake, I binge and I barely get any sleep. Who needs schedules anyway, right? Huge horror fan and you will immediately have an in with me if you can suggest a great horror that I haven’t watched yet.

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Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – The Good House (2022)

September 29, 2022 by Robert Kojder

The Good House , 2022.

Directed by Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Beverly D’Angelo, David Rasche, Rebecca Henderson, Molly Brown, Kathryn Erbe, Kelly AuCoin, Georgia Lyman, Oliver Boyle, Holly Chou, Damien Di Paola, Anthony Estrella, Chris Everett, Paul Guilfoyle, Laurie Hanley, Sebastien Labelle, Jimmy LeBlanc, Silas Pereira-Olson, Carl Sprague, Isabelle D. Trudel, and Alison Weller.

Life for New England realtor Hildy Good begins to unravel when she hooks up with an old flame of hers from New York. Based on Ann Leary’s ‘ The Good House .’

Most reviews begin with a brief rundown of the general plot and details about key characters, which I would love to do for The Good House if it had something resembling a story. It does have a protagonist in Sigourney Weaver’s Hildy Good, a functioning alcoholic real estate broker that splits the running time breaking the fourth wall about having her drinking under control and mingling with the townsfolk of Wendover (a small Massachusetts fishing village with connections to the Salem witch trials), some of which are clients.

Hildy also loans money to her New York-based aspiring artist daughter Emily (Molly Brown), tries to make time for her grandchild from older daughter Tess (Rebecca Henderson), working through a distant relationship brought on by decades of rocky parenting, and openly resents her ex-husband Scott (David Rasche) for coming out as gay and leaving her saddled with alimony payments.

There are a host of supporting characters orbiting her life, either looking to sell a house or buy a house, comprised of couples that end up cheating on one another, with Hildy holding onto that knowledge for potential future blackmail, especially considering the job has been dry lately, and her protégé Wendy Heatherton (Kathryn Erbe) cut ties and started up her agency.

There’s not much to like about Hildy, which directors Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky (co-writing thescreenplay alongside Thomas Bezucha, based on the novel by Ann Leary) appear to be playing into with the character’s constant fourth wall-breaking attempting to justify her drinking, commenting on her misery, and somewhat self-aware that she screws over some of her clients, but Sigourney Weaver’s performance is low-energy and flat. If the point is to cheer on her misdeeds and questionable behavior, she fails at getting viewers on her side.

What’s left is an unlikable character at every turn, denying her problems and routinely attacking her ex-husband’s sexuality (I fully understand there’s a sense of betrayal when someone you are married to comes out as gay and wants a divorce, but Hildy goes down that road so often one can’t help but wonder if she’s flat-out bigoted). The Good House doesn’t stop there with its tastelessness, introducing an autistic child for no other reason than to serve as a plot device down the road.

Along the way, Hildy rekindles a friendship with garbageman/home maintenance worker Frank (Kevin Kline), which genuinely provides some happiness and squashes the urge to drink. She eventually cracks anyway, with temptation scenes as cliché as they come (such as staring at bottles away from the family in another room on Thanksgiving).

Their chemistry together is the only remotely credible aspect here (the entire ensemble around Sigourney Weaver is decent, even if the material is atrocious). Unfortunately, this opportunity to explore a thoughtful romance between older characters on screen is quickly reduced to lowbrow comedy with a cringe sex scene played for laughs rather than something emotional.

A misguided central performance (Sigourney Weaver gives a phony portrayal of a drunk inside a movie that’s not interested in exploring a darker side of addiction), uninvolving character dynamics, and a missed opportunity romance are nothing compared to where The Good House eventually ends up. It turns out that all of these character details and interactions, while naturally leading to a wake-up call for Hildy regarding her alcoholism, also transition (with roughly 15 minutes to go, to give you an idea of how nonsensical and rushed this all is) into a melodramatic thriller that buys into Gildy’s shared bloodline with Salem witches.

Wondering how anyone thought the insanity of the third act mystery was a good idea is certainly better than being bored for the other 80 minutes. The editing also noticeably hacks away at entire conversations but considering this movie was about 15 minutes longer when it premiered that Toronto last year, I can only presume this was done to remove more listless dialogue.

Just take a bulldozer to The Good House ; awful in every way.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★  / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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Movie Reviews

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movie review of the good house

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“Road House” likes to explicitly reference that it thinks it’s a Western. It’s more like a cartoon.

While that may sound harsh, some of the Looney Tunes-esque qualities of this reimagining of the 1989 Patrick Swayze classic work in its favor. Especially in the first hour, when director Doug Liman and Anthony Bagarozzi & Charles Mondry are setting the table for what’s to come, there’s a fun B-movie throwback aesthetic to “Road House” that clicks for long stretches. However, once this defiantly goofy movie starts to take itself seriously, and asks us too often to do the same, the wheels come off with ridiculous twists, awkward line readings, and some of the worst fight CGI in years. Through it all, Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a fun performance that goes from charming to menacing, but even that gets lost in the chaos of a movie that needed to be sweaty, grounded, and urgent to work but becomes more and more like something you’d watch on Saturday morning.

When “Road House” opens, Elwood Dalton (Gyllenhaal) has fallen from grace. We don’t know how, but we know he’s so famous and so physically imposing that he scares combatants (including Post Malone ) out of a fight club ring before they even throw a punch. (And credit to Gyllenhaal and his physical trainers for making him entirely believable as a former UFC middleweight.) After a fight that gets canceled before it starts, Dalton is approached by a woman named Frankie ( Jessica Williams ), who owns a roadhouse in Glass Key, Florida that’s named, of course, Road House. Her establishment has been threatened by local, motorcycle-riding tough guys for weeks and she can barely stay open. She needs a bouncer. She needs Dalton.

Of course, “Road House” isn’t just about a bouncer at a bar in the Florida Keys. It turns out there’s a lot more to the violence in Frankie’s bar than the local drunks. A real estate power player named Ben Brandt ( Billy Magnussen ), who inherited an empire from a criminal father, is trying to get Frankie to shut the operation down. Dalton comes in and takes care of Ben’s lackies in a series of scenes that are pretty well-choreographed and conceived. They also set Dalton’s character as the kind of guy who drives his enemies to the hospital after he beats them up.

At said hospital, Dalton meets a doctor named Ellie ( Daniela Melchior ), who challenges his alleged altruism—after all, he just clogged up her ER with a bunch of idiots who wouldn’t be there if he wasn’t such a tough guy in the first place. Obviously, Ellie will be the love interest for Dalton, but the film takes forever to get there and then backs away from their relationship almost immediately, turning elements of Ellie’s life into plot twists. It’s understandable that Dalton is hesitant to be happy again given the trauma that’s revealed about his past, but the dynamic between him and Ellie is one of several in this film that feels uncertain of its own purpose. In the ‘80s movies that “Road House” so desperately wants to be, there’d be actual passion between Dalton and Ellie instead of the tentative stuff that unfolds here more out of narrative necessity.

More damaging than underwritten character dynamics is the overall tone of “Road House,” which needed to be far more tactile to be effective. This is a movie in which you need to feel the heat of the Florida Keys, the impact of a punch, the thud of a body hitting the floor. Oh, the over-crafted noises are there, but it’s all so obviously created in a CGI lab. It’s weird because the fight scenes that are quick—like the first one with the bikers, when Dalton disarms a man by making him unable to shoot, have an immediacy that works. But whenever “Road House” has to go “extended fight sequence,” you can see ALL the strings. Punches and their reactions look like cut scenes in a video game far too often, especially a long bar brawl and a boat sequence in the end that have CGI so janky that I wonder if the reason that Prime didn’t want this on a big screen was because people would be less likely to notice on a small screen.

And then there’s Conor McGregor as Knox, a sociopath who launches like he was shot out of a cannon into the back half of the movie to finish the job with Dalton. Knox brings a spark to a movie that's getting dry, but McGregor’s performance is equally fascinating and baffling, delivered almost entirely through a massive grin like he’s doing a bit at a weigh-in before a match. He struts and smiles like an aggro Popeye, and it feels like Liman told him to go over the top and so McGregor shot to the moon. There are times when his awkward line readings sound abjectly wrong, but maybe that’s intentional? It’s a constant push-and-pull of whether or not McGregor is purposefully awkward because Knox is a sociopath or if the fighter just doesn’t yet know how to put words together on screen. Debate amongst yourselves.

As silly as it sounds, that push-and-pull between realism and cartoonish insanity that rests in McGregor’s performance is indicative of the quality of the movie overall. Gyllenhaal is making one movie—a story of an almost-Zen fighter pushed past his breaking point—while people like Magnusson and McGregor lean into the ridiculousness in the other half. The two never come together. Of course, there are a lot of ‘80s movies with grounded heroes and exaggerated villains, but this new “Road House” makes one appreciate the balance of those more. And the lack of CGI.

This review was filed from the SXSW Film Festival. It premieres on Prime Video on March 21.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Road House movie poster

Road House (2024)

121 minutes

Jake Gyllenhaal as Elwood Dalton

Daniela Melchior as Ellie

Billy Magnussen as Ben Brandt

Jessica Williams as Frankie

Joaquim De Almeida as Sheriff Black

Conor McGregor as Knox

Lukas Gage as Billy

Arturo Castro as Moe

B.K. Cannon as Laura

Beau Knapp as Vince

Post Malone

  • Anthony Bagarozzi
  • Charles Mondry

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'Road House' Remake is Missing the Mystery and Magic of the Original

Despite a strong performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, 'Road House' features ridiculously dumb action and lacks the magic that made the first movie a classic.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars in 'Roadhouse.'

Jake Gyllenhaal stars in 'Roadhouse.' Photo: Laura Radford © Amazon Content Services LLC.

Premiering on Prime Video March 21st is ‘ Road House ,’ which is a remake of the classic Patrick Swayze action movie. The new film was directed by Doug Liman (‘ Mr. & Mrs. Smith ,’ ‘ The Bourne Identity ’) and stars Jake Gyllenhaal (‘ Spider-Man: Far From Home ,’ ‘ Ambulance ’) as Dalton.

Related Article: Jake Gyllenhaal and Director Doug Liman Working on ‘Road House’ Remake

Initial thoughts.

Despite being beloved now, the original ‘ Road House ’ was not a great movie. Really, it was a “so bad its good” movie and has since become a nostalgic classic thanks mostly to Patrick Swayze’s bizarrely serious performance in a film that didn’t deserve that much effort. So, what happens when you remake an essentially bad movie? You just get another bad movie!

Removing all the mystery behind the character of Dalton, his Eastern philosophy, and the unintentional humor, the result is a paint-by-numbers action film that never really works on any other level. Despite some unique direction in the fight scenes from filmmaker Doug Liman, and a charming and strong performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, ‘Road House’ will leave viewers unsatisfied and longing for the silliness of the original.

Story and Direction

On the set of 'Road House.'

On the set of 'Road House.' Photo: Laura Radford. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.

The movie begins by introducing us to the character of Elwood Dalton (adding a new first name for the remake), played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Dalton is a down-on-his-luck ex-UFC fighter who accidentally killed an opponent in the ring, and now cannot get anyone to fight him. He soon meets Frankie ( Jessica Williams ), who owns a bar in the Florida Keys called “The Road House.” (Yes, that’s now the name of the bar and its never really explained why.) Some locals are causing trouble, and she hires Dalton, who unlike the original has no experience bouncing, to clean up her establishment.

Upon his arrival, Dalton befriends a young girl named Charlie ( Hannah Love Lanier ) and her father, as well as some of the other Road House employees and a local doctor named Ellie ( Daniel Melchoir ), who he begins a relationship with. After expelling some of the riff raff from the bar, Dalton discovers that rich businessman Ben Brandt ( Billy Magnussen ) is behind the trouble and is trying to get Frankie to sell him the bar so he can tear it down and build a luxury hotel. Having his hands full with Dalton, Brandt hires a madman named Knox (played by real UFC fighter Conor McGregor ) to take him out.

The updates to the story only work to eliminate any of the humor and charm of the original movie and make this a more standard action movie. Dalton’s UFC background is an interesting 2024 addition, but completely strips Dalton of the mystery that made the character interesting in the first place. In 1989’s ‘Road House,’ Patrick Swayze’s Dalton was a professional bouncer, and had a philosophy (“Be Nice”) that formed his personality. He was also a mysterious character, with no first name, no home to call his own and a sorted past. The new film tries to establish itself as a modern Western but fails on many levels.

Conor McGregor stars in 'Road House.'

Conor McGregor stars in 'Road House.' Photo: Laura Radford. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.

While I liked the idea of adding the UFC background, it doesn’t work and strips the character of everything that made him unique in the original. If director Doug Liman wanted to make a movie about an ex-UFC fighter troubled by what happened in the ring, he should have just made that movie and left the ‘Road House’ franchise alone. Again, it’s not like the original was some great movie no one should touch, but if you are going to remake it, try to include some of what made the first movie popular over the decades.

I will give Liman credit for some fun and exciting fight sequences, both in the ring and out. For Dalton’s UFC flashback scenes, (and again, we don’t want to know about Dalton’s past, we want it to be a mystery, but I digress) Liman wisely shot during a real UFC fight and those scenes were excellent. Liman has the camera right in the ring and you feel every punch and kick. The fight scenes in the bar are great too, especially when Dalton and Knox face off. Liman uses a Steadicam for those sequences and rarely cuts, giving off the illusion of one long take. But there are other fight sequences that seemed more contrived, like when Dalton first fights the bikers, in a very ‘ Jack Reacher ,’ “Are you sure you want to do this” type of way.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Transformative Performance

Lukas Gage and Jake Gyllenhaal star in 'Road House.'

(L to R) Lukas Gage and Jake Gyllenhaal star in 'Road House.' Photo: Laura Radford. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.

This movie belongs to Jake Gyllenhaal, as he’s the only one giving a decent performance. While I don’t agree with many of the changes that they made to the character and the story, you can’t help but root for Gyllenhaal’s Dalton. The actor captures much of the charm and charisma that Swayze had in the original, while also being physically believable.

We’ve seen the actor physically transform before, playing a boxer in the excellent ‘ Southpaw ,’ so his action scenes are completely believable. Now, I expect that in real life Gyllenhaal would be no match for Conor McGregor, but you do think that while outmatched, Dalton does have a chance against Knox, and that is because Gyllenhaal is so believable in the role.

Other Performances

Conor McGregor stars in 'Road House.'

(Right) Conor McGregor stars in 'Road House.' Photo: Laura Radford. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.

Speaking of McGregor, he’s also fun in the movie thanks to his wild character and performance. Physically, he is exactly the type of person you need in a movie like this, and he is clearly having fun playing his cartoonish yet dangerous character.

Daniela Melchior plays Ellie, Dalton’s love interest, a role played by Kelly Lynch in the original. Melchior is a great actress and was excellent in ‘ The Suicide Squad ,’ but is let down here by the screenplay. She has nice chemistry with Gyllenhaal, but is never really allowed to explore it, not in the way Swayze and Lynch did in the original and their relationship is never established enough to work when the script needs it to in the final act.

Daniela Melchior stars in 'Road House.'

Daniela Melchior stars in 'Road House.' Photo: Laura Radford. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.

In fact, all the female roles are underwritten, which was disappointing to say the least. The role of Frankie the bar owner was gender-swapped from the original, but Jessie Williams is given almost nothing to do but recruit Dalton and seems to disappear halfway through the film. They hint at an attraction between Dalton and Frankie, but that is never explored.

Even Hannah Love Lanier’s Charlie is not given enough to do. Dalton makes a connection with her early in the film only to give the bad guys leverage against him in the third act. She basically disappears through the course of the movie as well, and I would have liked to have explored that character and her relationship to Dalton more.

Billy Magnussen's Villain

Arturo Castro and Billy Magnussen and Jake Gyllenhaal star in 'Road House.'

(L to R) Arturo Castro and Billy Magnussen and Jake Gyllenhaal star in 'Road House.' Photo: Laura Radford. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.

‘ No Time to Die ’s Billy Magnussen plays Ben Brandt, which is the remake’s version of Brad Wesley, the villain in the original played by legendary Hollywood actor Ben Gazzara . I have to say that I don’t understand the need to make this a younger character. Brandt never gets into a physical fight with Dalton (although even Gazzara and Swayze had a fight scene in the original), so why the character was made younger, I have no idea? But it doesn’t work.

Instead of playing an older former mob boss who controls the town with his power, Brandt is instead the son of an imprisoned mob boss, trying to run his father’s crime family how he sees fit while still looking for daddy’s approval. The result is a crybaby of a villain that you neither fear nor care about. Magnussen does his best with the poorly written role, chewing up some scenery, but it never really amounts to much on screen.

Final Thoughts

Conor McGregor and Jake Gyllenhaal stars in 'Roadhouse.'

(L to R) Conor McGregor and Jake Gyllenhaal stars in 'Roadhouse.' Photo: Laura Radford © Amazon Content Services LLC.

To be fair, ‘Road House’ is at times just as dumb and fun as the original, but that’s not saying much. Gyllenhaal’s performance is solid, but the actor deserved a better script. The action sequences are good, thanks to Liman’s camera work and Gyllenhaal and McGregor’s performances, but the poor script, focus on the UFC, and nonsensical changes from the original, strip the movie of any originality, mystery or silly fun that we may expect from the franchise.

‘Road House’ receives 4.5 out of 10 stars.

Road House

Ex-UFC fighter Dalton takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems. Read the Plot

What is the Plot of ‘Road House’?

A former UFC middleweight fighter (Jake Gyllenhaal) ends up working at a roadhouse in the Florida Keys where things are not as they seem.

Who is in the Cast of ‘Road House’?

  • Jake Gyllenhaal as Dalton
  • Conor McGregor as Knox
  • Daniela Melchior as Ellie
  • Billy Magnussen as Ben Brandt
  • Jessica Williams as Frankie
  • Hannah Love Lanier as Charlie
  • Lukas Gage as Billy
  • Darren Barnet as Sam
  • Austin Post as Carter
  • Joaquim de Almeida as Sheriff

Jake Gyllenhaal stars in 'Road House.'

Jake Gyllenhaal stars in 'Road House.' Photo: Laura Radford. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.

Other Movies Similar to ‘Road House':

  • ' The Karate Kid ' (1984)
  • ' Bloodsport ' (1988)
  • ' Cocktail ' (1988)
  • ' Road House ' (1989)
  • ' Fight Club ' (1999)
  • ' Coyote Ugly ' (2000)
  • ' The Bourne Identity ' (2002)
  • ' Mr. & Mrs. Smith ' (2005)
  • ' Fighting ' (2009)
  • ' The Fighter ' (2010)
  • ' Warrior ' (2011)
  • ‘ Southpaw ' (2015)

Buy Tickets: 'Road House' Movie Showtimes

Buy 'road house' movie on amazon.

movie review of the good house

Jami Philbrick has worked in the entertainment industry for over 20 years and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Moviefone.com. Formally, Philbrick was the Managing Editor of Relativity Media's iamROGUE.com, and a Senior Staff Reporter and Video Producer for Mtime, China's largest entertainment website. He has also written for Fandango, MovieWeb, and Comic Book Resources. Philbrick received the 2019 International Media Award at the 56th annual ICG Publicists Awards, and is a member of the Critics Choice Association. He has interviewed such talent as Tom Cruise, George Clooney, Dwayne Johnson, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey, Quentin Tarantino, and Stan Lee.

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Road house review: doug liman's remake is bigger, louder & slightly dumber than the original.

Road House is loud, abrasive, and maddeningly entertaining. What it lacks in depth or nuance, it makes up for with charm, lazy wit, and style.

  • The Road House remake, led by Jake Gyllenhaal, is bigger and louder with some fun creative choices.
  • The film features a strong cast, humorous moments, and entertaining, destructive action.
  • Despite lacking depth, Road House is engaging and built for a fun big-screen experience.

Remaking Road House is a choice. The Patrick Swayze-led actioner wasn’t highly regarded upon its release, despite audiences gravitating towards it for decades. It wasn’t a massive box office hit, but gained momentum on cable, a standard tale for many films from the past. High-profile celebrities have spoken highly of Road House over the years, and Swayze’s enduring popularity has always attracted people to the movie. Ultimately, it was an 80s flick with a little too much going on. Fast-forward 35 years, and we have an unexpected remake from director Doug Liman and actor Jake Gyllenhaal.

Road House is a remake of the original 1989 film, which followed protagonist Dalton, a Ph.D. educated bouncer at the roughest bar in the south known as the Double Deuce. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Dalton, with two major changes including Dalton being a retired UFC fighter and the bar locale being in the Florida Keys.

  • Road House can be creative & the cast is great
  • The film's action scenes are loud and entertaining
  • The characters and story lack depth
  • The film's action scenes are too neat despite the destruction

2024’s Road House transplants the story to Florida, switches out the primary motivation of the bad guy while keeping his general shadiness intact, and features rising star Daniela Mechior as the obligatory love interest, and a decent crop of fresh new talent that are at the precipice of great careers. Oh, and Conor McGregor and Post Malone join the fun , continuing the trend of popular athletes and musicians jumping into acting.

Doug Liman's Road House Amps Up The Energy With Bigger Fights & Action

Road House is the prime example of a remake wanting to be bigger and louder than its predecessor. Liman makes it clear that he is interested in Road House being the vessel with which he can make some creative choices. The director is no stranger to compelling filmmaking techniques, and he ensures the camera and editing have a huge role in most of his projects. 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.

Liman envelops us in the disorientating, fast-paced, and nauseating nature of bar fights and mixed martial arts — the two are intrinsically linked here due to the change in Dalton's backstory. Liman unleashes his inner Guy Ritchie, borrowing the British director's signature style with hand-to-hand fights, but he ramps it up. Considering how gnarly the fights get and how destructive the bad guys and Dalton are, the action is just a touch too clean and sharp, the CGI a bit laughable, and the destruction defies physics and medical possibilities. However, the goal is clear, and it's all so very entertaining.

Jake Gyllenhaal Reaffirms Himself As A Versatile Actor

Gyllenhaal is the shining star of the movie. Like the original, Road House relies on objectifying the desired male physique while starring a very well-liked actor. Liman and Gyllenhaal deliver on both fronts. It isn’t just the washboard abs, the thick thighs, and that shit-eating grin that Liman captures so beautifully on camera, it’s the whole package. Gyllenhaal has this incredible ability to modulate his acting to suit different projects. His ability to shift from serious mode to silly fun mode to subtle and cool is palpable.

The cast also perfectly nails the juvenile humor that reinforces Liman’s vision to make a fun, rowdy movie that feels like one big glorified bar fight.

Dalton is not a unique role, but Gyllenhaal injects the right amount of brooding, charm, and silliness that makes this film so much more entertaining than a remake usually is. Typically, actors attempt to recapture the performance their predecessors gave; here, Gyllenhaal takes on Dalton as if he is an entirely new creation.

The script doesn't give us too much. In fact, it leaves out critical components of Dalton's motivations for us and the characters to speculate about. Yet, Gyllenhaal tunes his performance to make Dalton the ideal figure for such speculation. Any reasoning the characters come up with can be true. As one character rightly expresses, he is neither the hero nor the villain, similar to the classic Western protagonist.

The Ensemble Cast Elevates The Film With Their Talent

The cast is balanced, with up-and-coming talent on both sides of the good and bad spectrum. The Road House staff (Lukas Gage, B.K. Cannon and Dominique Columbus) are perfectly utilized. They are present long enough to create the bar's atmosphere and illustrate why Jessica Williams' Frankie is so right to hire Dalton to protect her bar, as well as why the community continues to visit despite such violent disruptions.

Arturo Castro (a scene-stealer as Moe), JD Pardo, Darren Barnet, and Beau Knapp round out the hilariously incompetent lackeys for Billy Magnussen's Brandt. Crucially, the community in Glass Keys is wonderfully fleshed out, especially with Kevin Caroll's Stephen and Hannah Lanier's Charlie, the initial people Dalton meets, who embody the community's peaceful, genuine, and bright spirit that Frankie and, subsequently, Dalton wants to protect.

Road House premiered during the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival. It begins streaming on Prime Video on March 21.

Jessica Williams & Daniela Melchior Deserve Better, But Road House Didn't Need Both

Where Road House stumbles is with Jessica Williams and Daniela Melchior. Williams is engaging from the jump — her dry, sardonic delivery and dark jokes set the bar for what we should expect in the comedy department. Yet she is grounded enough to have us root for her and the Road House as it faces escalated attacks from Brandt. Melchior, who gets her moments, is the obligatory love interest, directly referencing the character from the original. Both women know more about the dark underbelly of Glass Keys than they care to admit.

They withhold the information for too long, and we never really understand why, despite getting along with Dalton. Ultimately, the film would have probably benefited from blending the two characters, giving Williams more space to showcase her skills as an actress while taking advantage of the undeniable chemistry between her and Gyllenhaal. Sure, it’s amusing when Joaquim de Almeida appears for the first time, and we quickly put two and two together about Melchior's dynamic with Dalton. However, the roles could have very easily merged, especially since Melchior doesn't elevate the thin role she's given.

Road House Is A Rowdy Good Time That Should Be Seen On The Big Screen

Road House is loud, abrasive, and maddeningly entertaining. What it lacks in depth or nuance it makes up for with charm, lazy wit, and style. The cast is the winning component. They are so likable that it's hardly noticeable when their characters are underutilized or wasted entirely. The cast also perfectly nails the juvenile humor that reinforces Liman’s vision to make a fun, rowdy movie that feels like one big glorified bar fight. It can be a stupid waste of time, but it's also hard to look away from.

Liman was right to believe that Road House belongs on the big screen — it's engaging. The situations that make us laugh or groan feel the most effective with a crowd of people to experience it. Like a UFC fight, the audience is as integral as the fighters in the pit. Road House is explicitly built like this, and it’s a shame that this film won’t have an earnest run in multiplexes before hitting Prime Video. Still, there is no reason to believe it won’t attract its fair share of fans.

Road House (2024)

Road House Review: This Pain Don’t Hurt

Jake Gyllenhaal delivers in a surprisingly good remake that pays homage to the original without getting mired in nostalgia.

  • A new take on Road House is surprisingly better than you'd expect, with a very good Gyllenhaal as Dalton, though his character is too abstract.
  • Conor McGregor's film debut is a standout in this action-packed remake.
  • A solid supporting cast adds heart and humor to this fresh reimagining with excellent action scenes and some cheesy dialogue.

When word got out that Doug Liman would be directing the reimagining of the 1989 Patrick Swayze classic, Road House , there was an immediate backlash from fans who hold nostalgia in high regard. When it was revealed that Jake Gyllenhaal would be portraying Dalton, there were further outcries of injustice. And Conor McGregor? Oh, the horror!

Like Swayze said, though, “Pain don’t hurt,” and if audiences are willing to toughen up and go into Road House with an open mind, they’ll find that Liman’s version doesn’t hurt, either. In fact, it’s the perfect homage to the original, while at the same time branching out on its own to become something new. It’s a throwback to action films of the '90s with 21st century techniques that grab you by the collar and don’t let go, and if moviegoers are willing to take the ride, they’ll be treated to a fun couple of hours filled with heart, humor, and hard-hitting action. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's a smooth ride.

Jake Gyllenhall Is Elwood Dalton

Road house (2024).

  • A surprisingly excellent cast makes Road House fun.
  • The action scenes are very well designed by director Doug Liman.
  • The Road House remake wisely avoids nostalgic fan service.
  • Road House was hardly a necessary film to remake.
  • Dalton remains a weirdly vague character without much substance.

With help from the opening sequence that sets the tone of Road House with the perfect soundtrack, Jake Gyllenhaal is the embodiment of Elwood Dalton, an ex-UFC fighter whose reputation precedes him. He remains stoic, even in the face of adversity (and with a knife sticking out of him), and his nonchalant attitude and disregard for his own safety lets the viewer know that this is a man with some demons. Any doubts about Gyllenhaal’s ability to take on such an iconic role are quickly laid to rest.

However, with so much made about his past, one would think that his backstory would play a more prominent role throughout the course of the film. Such is not the case here, and audiences might be left wanting when it comes to finding out exactly what happened to him and the aftermath that ensued. While it's understandable that the film wants to stay in the present, just a little more substance to Dalton’s history would have rounded out the character nicely.

Conor McGregor Shines

There’s not much to say about Conor McGregor that hasn’t already been said, but in terms of Road House , the MMA fighter shines in his film debut . Right from his humorous introduction, the movie pulls no punches, letting viewers know that this is a man with a screw loose, and the perfect yang to Dalton’s yin. He’s a larger-than-life character with an even larger-than-life physique, and takes command of every scene he’s in with snappy — albeit sometimes cliché — dialogue, and expertly timed punches.

Why Road House Is the Best Action Movie of the ‘80s

McGregor could easily make the transition into an action star if he so chooses. Road House is the perfect vehicle for him to showcase his abilities outside the octagon, while at the same time reminding viewers what brought him to the dance. At age 35, and with one or two fights left in him , don’t be surprised to see his name pop up in the credits of future movies.

All Are Welcome at the Road House (Especially Great Supporting Characters)

While all eyes will be on Gyllenhaal and McGregor in Road House , audiences will be pleasantly surprised by the supporting cast who make the rowdy establishment in Glass Key, Florida, feel like a family. Jessica Williams ( The Daily Show ), Lukas Gage ( Euphoria ), Dominique Columbus ( Ray Donovan ), and B.K. Cannon ( Switched at Birth ) work together with Gyllenhaal to form that familial bond prevalent in most workplaces. Hannah Love Lanier ( Special Ops: Lioness ) is a young actress with a bright future, and her scenes with Gyllenhaal inject a lot of heart into the film.

Related: Jake Gyllenhaal Breaks Silence on Road House Streaming Controversy

Daniela Melchior ( Fast X ) as the ER doctor is a suitable love interest for Dalton throughout, and her ties to the villains come as no surprise for those who've seen the original. Billy Magnussen ( Spy Kids: Armageddon ) is the perfect spoiled rich kid who wants Williams’ Road House for his own nefarious purposes, while his band of minions like J.D. Pardo ( Mayans M.C. ) and Arturo Castro ( The Menu ) do a wonderful job acting as chum to Gyllenhaal’s great white. Of course, it wouldn’t be a small town without a few corrupt cops, and the excellent Joaquim de Almeida ( Fast Five ) doesn’t disappoint.

The Choice of a New Generation

In the end, this isn’t Patrick Swayze’s Road House , and audiences would do well to not go in expecting their nostalgia to be fulfilled with a bevy of fan service. The film stands on its own two feet for a new generation with action sequences that are top-notch , an ending that — dare we say — leaves the door open for a sequel, and performances and scenery that deliver from start to finish. Fans of the original will easily spot some references to the 1989 movie, but thankfully, they are few and far between, leaving this Road House to operate on its own.

Road House made its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 8, 2024, and will hit Prime Video on March 21.

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Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor face off in Road House.

Road House review – Conor McGregor almost steals riotous 80s remake

Jake Gyllenhaal fills Patrick Swayze’s shoes in a brashly entertaining romp featuring a knockout debut from the UFC champ

I t would be easy to dismiss a new Road House – the shoes left by a gritty, sweaty Patrick Swayze in the pulpy 1989 action film are hard ones to fill; sequels and remakes tend to tip the fine balance of good-bad that defined so many films from that period into straight-up bad. Plus, the Road House remake from The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman is ( controversially ) bypassing theaters and headed straight to streaming via Amazon Prime Video – by now, given the deluge of disposable content, a dubious distinction for quality.

The straight-to-streaming release plan, however intentional, is indeed a bummer, as Liman’s rowdy, campy remake both looks and sounds more expensive and textured than what we’ve come to expect from digital releases. This Ultimate Fighting Championship-inflected Road House, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a brass-knuckled bouncer with a tortuous past, is meant for the big screen, as evidenced by the hoots and hollers at its SXSW premiere. Relocated from honky-tonk Missouri to the Florida Keys, the new Road House, written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry (who collaborated on the story with original screenwriter David Lee Henry), is an entertaining and visceral, if at times unwieldy, romp of scene-chewing trash talk and smackdowns.

Like his predecessor, Gyllenhaal’s Elwood Dalton is a dry and at times philosophical man with exceptional mixed martial arts skills, who flees a fight gone too far (in this case, actual UFC) for smaller, grimier pastures. We meet Dalton living out of his car in skeevy south Florida, scraping by with prize money won from scaring amateur fighters like Carter (Post Malone) out of the ring with just a flash of his professionally toned abs. Enter, with nearly indecipherable exposition, Frankie, a barkeep in the Keys played by Jessica Williams, her trademark sardonic wit almost distractingly reasonable for the south Florida mayhem around her. Faced with aimless depression or a few thousand a month to keep the peace at her family’s bar, Dalton heads to the Road House, a beachside dive that looks like a smaller, cheaper Margaritaville.

It’s a rough establishment. For reasons, the Road House attracts a disproportionate amount of shady characters with hair-trigger rages, and employs a disproportionately high number of good musicians to soundtrack nightly bar fights from behind a chain-link fence. The most destructive patrons are a motorcycle gang led by Dell (JD Pardo), whose 5 v 1 defeat by Dalton illustrates the film’s light superhero touch and gets Dalton embroiled with a cartoonishly villainous developer named Brandt (Billy Magnussen, ever reliable at cartoonish villainy).

There is plot – drugs, corrupt cops, hits, boats, a shirtless Gyllenhaal doing pull-ups, etc – that is generally difficult to follow and also not the point. True to form, the stakes barely make sense, even as they are ostensibly raised by money, death and kidnapping. Which is fine, though to its detriment, especially at a full two-hour runtime, Road House is not interested in backstory for Dalton (save his flashback-inducing crime) or its many underdeveloped supporting characters. Among them: flinty bartender Laura (BK Cannon), aspiring bouncers Billy (Lukas Gage) and Reef (Dominique Columbus), bookstore owner Stephen (Kevin Carroll) and his precocious daughter Charlie (Hannah Love Lanier) and, most egregiously, Dalton’s love interest Ellie (Daniela Melchior), a nurse with connections who manages to sneak one personal question past him in their too-brief courtship. (“You think we don’t have Google on this island?” stands in for the rest.) Intriguing details such as Ellie’s estranged family or Frankie’s lineage of Black business owners, a feat in the Jim Crow south, are briefly floated as character motivations – why are people staying in this town?! – but summarily buried in the brash and brawn.

Still, 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 . The Road House bar may be pretty small-time – in fact, some of the film’s enjoyment derives from just how small-town and petty this world is – but the fight sequences are operating on a big, bold, reality-stretching canvas. Big as in crocodile fights big, full cast bar-brawl big, knockout death match between Dalton and McGregor’s cocky (and occasionally bare-assed) hitman big. It’s primal, bruising, ludicrous and very fun.

McGregor, it turns out, is a natural at playing a devilishly flamboyant villain, at times stealing the show from a more grounded Gyllenhaal. Liman keeps the camp in check, though, with a focus on the visceral – broken bones and bloody noses, concussed POV, the sickening crack of a fist connecting with skull. If you have a fear of brain damage or your teeth getting knocked out like piano keys, tread carefully. I have never and, after this movie, will never watch UFC, which I mean as a compliment to Liman’s balance of flair and real, gut-twist fighting. That balance, of serious and faux-serious, is one the new Road House doesn’t always strike, but it gives what it needs to: movie-star charisma and a consistently good time.

Road House is available on Prime Video on 22 March

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‘Road House’ Review: Jake Gyllenhaal Takes Command in an Ultraviolent Retread That Makes Slumming Look Artful

Doug Liman stages it like a Jason Statham movie directed by Jonathan Demme, at once brutally vicious and teasingly humane.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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Road House Jake Gyllenhaal

“ Road House ” is an infectiously stylish piece of slumming. It’s a remake of the 1989 Patrick Swayze cheeseball action cult film, and it’s staged with a verve and wit and dynamic grittiness that make the original film look even more rickety than it once did. Doug Liman, the director of the new “Road House,” has always been a gifted maverick, but I still like his earliest films (“Go,” “Swingers”) the best. For years now, he has worked hard to make interesting and responsible dramas, but watching “Road House” you can taste how good it must have felt for him to be irresponsible — to give in to his savage B-movie id.

The original “Road House” was nominated for five Golden Rasberry Awards, and it probably deserved most of them, yet it was a modest hit, and it’s a potboiler that’s fondly remembered, because it’s the kind of trash you can relax into. It’s like a Chuck Norris film with a real actor at its center. As Dalton, not a bouncer but a “cooler” (i.e., the coolest level of super-bouncer), who is hired to clean up a hooligan dive bar in Jasper, Missouri, Swayze sizes up every adversary with an utter lack of fear — he’s all Zen blue eyes and cheekbones and “I wouldn’t bother to fight you” lethal calm. He’s like the Western gunfighter reborn as a Buddhist shitkicker.

So why remake this late-’80s piece of nostalgia-inducing junk? Because in a world where some consider the “John Wick” movies to be high art, slumming has become its own form of hipsterism. Liman, who showed up tonight (in a cowboy hat) for the film’s SXSW premiere, has reacted with howls of betrayal over the fact that his film, backed by Amazon Studios, is not going to be playing in movie theaters. Without getting into the weeds of who promised what deal to whom , I think Liman is dead right about one thing: If it were to play in theaters, “Road House” could be a decisive hit. (I bet it would gross $50 million or more.) If the first “Road House” was a better Chuck Norris movie, the new one is something more uncanny — it’s like a Jason Statham movie directed by Jonathan Demme.

Demme, the most humane of filmmakers, had a classical and nearly invisible technique. He knew exactly how long to hold a shot, how to structure a movie with fluid ingenuity. Yet what defined him was how he treated everyone onscreen as a genuine person. Liman, in “Road House,” approaches the debased spectacle of sadism and revenge in a comparable way. He milks it for the satisfaction you want from a film like this one — the joy of watching bad guys get what’s coming to them. Yet he never makes it look too easy. He lets the action unfold against a bevy of bar bands doing their thing, and damned if the music doesn’t work in a Demme-like fashion (the way it did in, say, “Something Wild”). There’s something cathartic about how “Road House” serves up bone-crunching vengeance with an island party-tavern beat.

Gyllenhaal’s hero, who is still named Dalton (now he’s Elwood Dalton), is introduced entering the gladiatorial ring of a sordid underground-circuit ultimate fighting competition, where all he has to do is remove his hoodie and shirt and reveal who he is; that’s enough for his opponent to give in. What the audience sees is a set of abs so awesome they appear etched, as well as the Gyllenhaal ‘tude. He makes Dalton that rare thing, a pensive and considered badass. When he first confronts the goons who have shown up to cause trouble, he asks them if there’s a hospital nearby (this is his funny form of warning). After kicking the crap out of them in the parking lot, he drives them to the hospital.

Gyllenhaal makes Dalton sincere yet sarcastic, and his punches are so fast they practically stop time. (He also takes one man’s pathetic fist in the face as if a baby were punching him.) And though he’s basically a sweetheart, just like the Swayze character was, he’s got more torment, and more anger, bubbling underneath. Gyllenhaal, with his perfect coif and his stoic smirk, is like Anthony Perkins stripped of self-doubt. He plays Dalton as almost ironically recessive, but you wouldn’t want to get in his way.

The plot is simplicity itself, but each of the villains has his own maniacal flavor. Brandt, scoundrel that he is, actually believes that he’s a virtuous architect of the community; that’s his evil folly. And once Dalton puts Dell (JD Pardo), ringleader of the local motorcycle gang, out of business with the help of the crocodile who lives under the houseboat he’s crashing in, Brandt’s powerful father calls in a brute-force fixer: Knox, played by the Irish mixed-martial-arts fighter Conor McGregor in a stunning movie debut. Thick-bearded and bulky-chested, with gleaming white teeth, he makes Knox move around like a gorilla on pep pills, and the exuberance of his homicidal fury could be out of a “Mad Max” film.

This is an adversary worthy of Dalton — his equal, except for the fact that he’s on the side of wrong. But as the film builds toward their ultimate showdown, getting very vehicular in the process (Liman turns the crashing confrontations of trucks and boats into a kind of nihilistic action ballet), you feel the low-down momentousness. This is not a war that’s going to be won by punching. Only stabbing — a great deal of it — will do.

I don’t want to overpraise “Road House.” It’s a movie, like the first film, that’s been assembled out of standard components. Yet that’s part of its scuzzy pleasure — that it has no pretense about itself, except for the intensity with which Liman stages it, turning the fight scenes into rollicking spontaneous smashfests. Daniela Melchior, who takes the Kelly Lynch role (the local physician who falls for Dalton), amps up the tough-nut romanticism. But it’s Gyllenhaal’s movie. He has always exuded a warm and almost ethereal decency on screen, yet he has had difficulty finding the perfect vehicle for it. Who would have thought that the ultimate expression of Jake Gyllenhaal’s heart would be his ability to punch this hard?     

Reviewed at SXSW (Headliner), March 8, 2024. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 114 MIN.

  • Production: An Amazon Prime Video release of a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Silver Pictures production. Producer: Joel Silver. Executive producers: JJ Hook, Alison Winter, Aaron Auch, Audie Attar.
  • Crew: Director: Doug Liman. Screenplay: Anthony Bagarozzi, Charles Mondry. Camera: Henry Braham. Editor: Doc Crotzer. Music: Christophe Beck.
  • With: Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Joaquim de Almeida, Conor McGregor, Lukas Gage, Arturo Castro, B.K. Cannon, Beau Knapp, Darren Barnet.

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‘road house’ review: jake gyllenhaal compels in doug liman’s brashly entertaining remake.

The actor stars alongside Jessica Williams, Billy Magnussen, Lukas Gage and Conor McGregor in this new take on the 1989 Patrick Swayze flick.

By Lovia Gyarkye

Lovia Gyarkye

Arts & Culture Critic

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JAKE GYLLENHAAL stars in ROADHOUSE

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In Road House , which premiered at SXSW and will hit Prime Video on March 21, Dalton is haunted by his past as a UFC fighter. The details around a well-known fight between him and his best friend remain relatively mysterious. (Liman offers glimpses through Dalton’s nightmares.) Like Patrick Swayze’s original character, Gyllenhaal’s Dalton hesitates when asked to protect a bar from local goons. Money makes the decision easier. When Frankie ( Jessica Williams ) offers Dalton $5,000 a week, in cash, to clean house at her cheekily named Florida roadside joint (called The Road House), he gets on the next bus to the tropical archipelago. In the small community of Glass Key, he befriends a headstrong teenager (Hannah Lanier), trains a crop of amateur fighters ( Lukas Gage and Dominique Columbus) and makes a new set of enemies. 

When Road House finds its own story, the film really takes off. The general narrative remains the same (this is still a campy adventure with minor-key humor and a host of lethal action sequences) but the details make good use of the new setting. Liman filmed the entire movie on location in the Dominican Republic, and uses the wide swaths of ocean to stage eye-popping boat fights and epic underwater brawls. 

Gyllenhaal’s performance starts in the shadow of Swayze’s — Dalton’s signature smirk and laconic posture are all here — before evolving into something more complicated. In the actor’s interpretation, the smile is a parallel narrative of Dalton’s emotions. It can be a smug gesture, a hint at greater knowledge or a warning of violence to come.

Where Gyllenhaal’s smile teases, his body indulges. The fight scenes in Liman’s Road House are just as bloody and ridiculous as those in Herrington’s. In early moments, Dalton takes on the low-level threats, and the focus is on a kind of intellectual combat that flaunts his precision and agility. Most of these bullies are the henchmen of Ben Brandt ( Billy Magnussen ), the son of an incarcerated mobster. The power-hungry heir wants to destroy The Road House so he can build oceanside resorts for a wealthy clientele. Later, when Dalton takes on a henchman (Conor McGregor) hired by Ben’s father, the fights become a battle of wincing blows and brutal attacks.

Still, Liman flexes his stylish direction, especially during the bloody confrontations. He toys with angles and perspective to keep these scenes dynamic. And even though Road House will likely be measured by the intensity of its fights, it manages to shape a surprisingly grounded portrait of the Keys, and perhaps the South more broadly, through its music. The fictional Road House stage becomes a lively showcase for real artists, from the “swamp-pop” of C.C Adcock and Tommy McClain to the funky electronic sounds of Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph. Their tunes, coupled with the company Dalton attracts, make nearly every moment of Road House an event.

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  1. The Good House movie review & film summary (2022)

    Based on the novel by Ann Leary, the romantic dramedy "The Good House" touches on some piercing and deeply relatable truths about drinking, and about women's drinking in particular: that it gives us swagger, that it helps us hang with the big boys, that it lets us present the best version of ourselves to the world.

  2. The Good House

    Movie Info. The Good House follows Hildy Good (Sigourney Weaver), a wry New England realtor and descendant of the Salem witches, who loves her wine and her secrets. Her compartmentalized life ...

  3. 'The Good House' Review: Expending Emotional Real Estate

    The directors Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky use the film's style as a sleight of hand. At first glance, the movie appears to be a soft focus romance. Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline are ...

  4. 'The Good House' Review

    September 15, 2021 6:00pm. The Good House Courtesy of TIFF. Hildy Good, the whip-smart and self-deluding Realtor at the center of The Good House, spends a significant portion of screen time ...

  5. The Good House

    Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 29, 2022. Carla Hay Culture Mix. Sigourney Weaver's feisty performance as an alcoholic real-estate agent is the main reason to watch this uneven dramedy ...

  6. Review

    "The Good House" has a lot of potential and features some attractive amenities, including dramatic conflict and a seasoned cast. But like a subpar property, it just doesn't show well in a ...

  7. 'The Good House' Review: A Woman With a Secret Everyone Else Can See

    "The Good House" may not be a great movie, but Hildy Good is among Weaver's best performances. What makes watching this career woman struggle to keep it together so compelling is the gap ...

  8. The Good House (2021)

    The Good House: Directed by Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky. With Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney. Life for New England realtor Hildy Good begins to unravel when she hooks up with an old high school flame. Based on Ann Leary's 'The Good House.'

  9. 'The Good House' review: Sigourney Weaver deserves a nod for best

    Having received Academy Award nominations for "Aliens," "Gorillas in the Mist" and "Working Girl," she is still without an Oscar. Her triumph in "The Good House" deserves to put Weaver in the race ...

  10. 'The Good House' Review: Sigourney Weaver Captivates as a Woman

    This review originally ran Sept. 15, 2021, for the film's world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Like many an entertaining addict, Hildy Good is a great storyteller ...

  11. The Good House Movie Review

    Most of the storyline i. Parents need to know that The Good House is a wry portrait of a woman with an alcohol dependency. Hildy Good (Sigourney Weaver) knows from her infamous ancestor -- accused Salem witch Sarah Good -- that "women who don't care what people think of them are hanged in the public square." So when she's accused of….

  12. The Good House Review: Sigourney Weaver Is Aces as a ...

    Editor's note: This review was originally published at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate releases the film in theaters on Friday, September 30.

  13. 'The Good House' review: For a chance to see Sigourney Weaver, Kevin

    'The Good House': For a chance to see Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline reunite, film's flaws easily forgiven The screen greats co-star (for the third time) in solid drama about alcohol, money ...

  14. The Good House Review: Weaver & Kline Are A Winning Duo Opposite Solid

    The Good House Review: Weaver & Kline Are A Winning Duo Opposite Solid Ensemble. Thanks to Weaver's fearless performance, though, The Good House rises above its flaws to become an entertaining and earnest character study. Based purely on its poster, Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky's The Good House looks like a Nicholas Sparks-eque romance ...

  15. The Good House REVIEW

    The Good House is a vehicle for Weaver to strut her acting chops, which she does with finesse, making Hildy a flawed but relatable character. Because the story is focused on Hildy, the rest of the ...

  16. THE GOOD HOUSE

    The overall message of THE GOOD HOUSE is to learn to ask for help. However, it doesn't shy away from diving into the depravity that takes place whenever people are unwilling to seek help. While the movie claims that it is a comedy, the movie focuses more on alcoholism and its consequences. THE GOOD HOUSE speaks to the many dangers of an ...

  17. The Good House

    Hildy Good (Sigourney Weaver) is a wry New England realtor and descendant of the Salem witches, who loves her wine and her secrets. Her compartmentalized life begins to unravel as she rekindles a romance with her old high-school flame, Frank Getchell (Kevin Kline), and becomes dangerously entwined in one person's reckless behavior. Igniting long-buried emotions and family secrets, Hildy is ...

  18. The Good House

    The film is rated R, albeit a pretty soft R. (Indeed, The Good House was originally listed as PG-13 on Google before someone apparently thought better of it.) And while the alcohol is an important and inescapable part of the story, the sexual content and language easily could've been dropped. The Good House is, in some respects, a good movie ...

  19. The Good House Review

    The Good House is a movie that many will skip over but should spend the time with as it is just as engaging a portrait of New England life as Manchester by the Sea and every bit a showcase for the ...

  20. The Good House (2021): Movie Review and Ending, Explained

    The Good House (2021) Review: The strenuous disillusionment of a high-functioning alcoholic. Unresolved trauma, pathological denial in the form of Sigourney Weaver breaking the fourth wall, and generational ignorance about mental illness make up this dark, dramedy romance set in the fictional fishing town of Wendover.

  21. The Good House (film)

    The Good House is a 2021 American comedy-drama film directed by Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky, who wrote the screenplay with Thomas Bezucha. It is based on the novel of the same name by Ann Leary. It is the final Amblin Partners film to be produced under the Participant label for social justice content (since Participant terminated its equity stake in Amblin Partners, ending its ...

  22. The Good House (2022) Movie Reviews

    The Good House follows Hildy Good (Sigourney Weaver), a wry New England realtor and descendant of the Salem witches, who loves her wine and her secrets. Her compartmentalized life begins to unravel as she rekindles a romance with her old high-school flame, Frank Getchell (Kevin Kline), and becomes dangerously entwined in one person's reckless behavior.

  23. The Good House (2022)

    The Good House, 2022. Directed by Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Beverly D'Angelo, David Rasche, Rebecca Henderson ...

  24. Road House movie review & film summary (2024)

    "Road House" likes to explicitly reference that it thinks it's a Western. It's more like a cartoon. While that may sound harsh, some of the Looney Tunes-esque qualities of this reimagining of the 1989 Patrick Swayze classic work in its favor. Especially in the first hour, when director Doug Liman and Anthony Bagarozzi & Charles Mondry are setting the table for what's to come, there ...

  25. Movie Review: 'Road House'

    The action sequences are good, thanks to Liman's camera work and Gyllenhaal and McGregor's performances, but the poor script, focus on the UFC, and nonsensical changes from the original, strip ...

  26. Road House Review: Doug Liman's Remake Is Bigger, Louder & Slightly

    2024's Road House transplants the story to Florida, switches out the primary motivation of the bad guy while keeping his general shadiness intact, and features rising star Daniela Mechior as the obligatory love interest, and a decent crop of fresh new talent that are at the precipice of great careers. Oh, and Conor McGregor and Post Malone join the fun, continuing the trend of popular ...

  27. Road House Review: A Surprisingly Good Remake

    A new take on Road House is surprisingly better than you'd expect, with a very good Gyllenhaal as Dalton, though his character is too abstract.; Conor McGregor's film debut is a standout in this ...

  28. Road House review

    Still, 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 ...

  29. 'Road House' Review: A Retread That Makes Slumming Look Artful

    Doug Liman stages it like a Jason Statham movie directed by Jonathan Demme, at once brutally vicious and teasingly humane. "Road House" is an infectiously stylish piece of slumming. It's a ...

  30. 'Road House' Review: Jake Gyllenhaal Compels in Doug Liman's Remake

    The general narrative remains the same (this is still a campy adventure with minor-key humor and a host of lethal action sequences) but the details make good use of the new setting.