Should You Return to the Road House and the Ghostbusters Firehouse?

It’s the middle of March 2024, but moviemakers seem to have their minds on the 1980s. This week, two films are dropping that hope to recapture the fun of much loved movies from back in the day. 

Are they worth seeing?

Read on to learn what I thought of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and Road House.

Bustin’ makes me feel good

Forty years after the release of the original Ghostbusters, and two and a half years after the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the two eras come together in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

Since the events of the 2021 series reboot, the main characters — science teacher Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) and the Spenglers (Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, and Mckenna Grace) — have relocated from Oklahoma, and now live in the Ghostbusters HQ/firehouse in New York City, where they’ve taken over for the three remaining original Ghostbusters, Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Winston Zeddermore (Ernie Hudson).

Why Gary and the Spenglers — who are, of course, the descendants of deceased original Ghostbuster Egon Spengler (R.I.P. Harold Ramis) — moved to the Big Apple isn’t entirely clear, plot-wise, nor is it fully explained why supporting characters like Podcast (Logan Kim) and Lucky (Celeste O’Connor) also moved there, but let’s face it: The film makes a lot more sense taking place in New York than it does in Oklahoma. It also makes this latest outing a much more obvious nostalgia play, and allows the filmmakers (including director Gil Kenan, who cowrote the movie with Jason Reitman) to bring back characters like Janine (Annie Potts); Walter Peck (William Atherton), who’s now the mayor of New York; and Slimer, who apparently still lives in the firehouse. I won’t spoil all the throwback references, but there are a lot of them.

At the hour-and-20-minute mark, the “tall, dark, and horny” big bad, a malicious god named Garraka, finally appears and, as promised in the teaser trailer, New York freezes over. And then, before the movie can even have a little fun with that premise, it’s over. Had more of Frozen Empire taken place during this cold snap, it would have been a more engaging movie. After all, the movie’s title implies more of it will take place during the deep freeze. Alas, it gets bogged down with so much exposition and setup leading up to the climax — including from a wholly unnecessary Patton Oswalt — that when the big chill does happen, it feels almost obligatory, like a plot device solely intended to unite the two teams. Heck, the ghost-busting happens inside the firehouse, where it doesn’t even appear to be all that cold.

Ultimately, Frozen Empire is a fan-service movie in the vein of 2022’s Jurassic World: Dominion — which is to say, it brings together a beloved cast and one we barely care for, and then doesn’t quite know how to make them fit naturally. Perhaps Murray sensed this early on; his contribution to the film is little more than an extended cameo — though it’s just enough to give Frozen Empire the comic pop it’s otherwise lacking.

Perhaps the best thing I can say about this latest Ghostbusters film is that, when Ray Parker Jr.’s theme song plays over the end credits, it’s the exact same song we know, and not a remixed version or a cover version, as so many reboots do.

Alas, the film sets up another sequel, so it’s likely we’ll see these characters again, and the series will make it to a third film — something the original one never did. Let’s hope that, next time, who’re the filmmakers gonna call? A better screenwriter.

I’m giving Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire a C.

Be nice

Aside from some passing, inconsequential references (Hey look, that restaurant is called the Double Deuce! Does that sign above the bar say “Be nice”?), Doug Liman’s direct-to–Amazon Prime reimagining of Road House doesn’t have much in common with the 1989 classic on which it’s based. 

Shifting the action from rural Missouri to the Florida Keys, Jake Gyllenhaal takes over the Patrick Swayze role of bouncer Dalton, except here, for no apparent reason, he’s a former UFC fighter hired by a bar owner (Jessica Williams) to clean up her establishment — literally called the Road House. As Dalton learns, a motorcycle gang is harassing the Road House’s patrons because the gang’s boss, a brash real-estate magnate (Billy Magnussen), wants to demolish the bar so he can build a resort on its land. And yet, oddly, in spite of all the trouble the gang causes, the bar seems to be packed every single night. Yes, Dalton falls for a local doctor he meets in the ER (Daniela Melchior). But mostly, he can’t believe the mess he’s gotten himself involved in. 

And then, about halfway through the film, supposed “comic relief” in the form of actual UFC fighter Conor McGregor enters as a mercenary named Knox. The only reason McGregor’s character exists is to give Dalton someone significant to take on in the film’s climactic scene (and, no doubt, to give the film some credibility with UFC fans, as well as Amazon a marketing hook). It’s not worth it, and the film would have been better without him. It certainly would have been shorter — not a bad thing. 

The original Road House, in both setting and plot, was a like a modern-day Western in that it had something to say about violence and redemption, and that, aside from its philosophy-spouting, tai-chi practicing hero, its story was really about a community that comes together to save itself. This updated version is little more than a typical violent and bloody action flick about a solitary hero who saves the day. As if to make the point, in this new film, there’s a local teenage girl who tells you it’s a Western, even though it really isn’t.

What the 2024 version of Road House is is a long two hours that I’m glad I got to see in a theater, because on Amazon Prime, at home, it’s going to be even more of a drag. (Ironically, the film has the promotional tagline “Take it outside,” which makes no sense given that it’s a streaming-only release.)

The original wasn’t a great movie, per se, but compared to this one, it’s a masterpiece. 

I’m giving Road House a C–.