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The Big White Reviews

A lame Fargo wannabe. Despite Robin Williams and a decent supporting cast, this was barely released to theaters, and it's easy to see why.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Jul 13, 2007

A cross-between "Raising Arizona" and "The Big Lebowski". A good film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 7, 2006

It's one of those movies that wants to be hip, but winds up being irritating in a pretentious, poseur sort of way.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 5, 2006

Though it's better than Robin Williams' recent theatrical hit R.V., it still doesn't quite click.

Full Review | Jun 2, 2006

a very good and underrated little movie, full of black comedy, clever coincidences and plot twists

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 30, 2006

Enjoyably quirky thriller with bizarre, off-the-wall performances from its entire cast and some striking location work.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 23, 2006

March of the Penguins was funnier and edgier.

Full Review | Dec 15, 2005

Snowed under by misjudgment on every level, The Big White is DOA.

Full Review | Nov 16, 2005

Never completely finds its balance.

Full Review | Oct 10, 2005

• The A.V. Club
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The Big White

Robin Williams (Paul Barnell) Giovanni Ribisi (Ted Waters) Holly Hunter (Margaret Barnell) Tim Blake Nelson (Gary) W. Earl Brown (Jimbo) Woody Harrelson (Raymond Barnell) Alison Lohman (Tiffany) Billy Merasty (Cam) Marina Stephenson Kerr (Avis) Ralph Alderman (Mr. Branch) Frank Adamson (Detective) Andrea Shawcross (Hair Stylist) Ryan Miranda (Korean-am Teenager) Craig March (Howard) Ty Wood (Paperboy) Frank C. Turner (Dave) Brenda McDonald (Mrs. Wherry) Deena Fontaine (Female Cop)

To remedy his financial problems, a travel agent has his eye on a frozen corpse, which just happens to be sought after by two hitmen.

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The Big White

Snowed under by misjudgment on every level, "The Big White" is DOA. Despite a cast that generally reads like an indie production's wish list, pic's tendency to liberally borrow from the Coen Brothers playbook of comic mayhem is exceeded only by its lack of sense of what's actually funny.

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Snowed under by misjudgment on every level, “The Big White” is DOA. Despite a cast that generally reads like an indie production’s wish list, pic’s tendency to liberally borrow from the Coen Brothers playbook of comic mayhem is exceeded only by its lack of sense of what’s actually funny. Robin Williams understandably looks miserable as a financially drowning travel agent in a remote Alaskan town, exercising fraud to score $1 million. With an awards-qualifying Los Angeles opening set for mid-December, general commercial prospects, theatrically or ancillary, are frigid.

Paul (Williams), a beaten-down travel agent, is knee-deep in debt and living with wife Margaret (Holly Hunter) who appears to have Tourette’s Syndrome. Paul’s woes compound when his insurance company, in the person of dogged agent Ted (Giovanni Ribisi), rejects his claim to collect $1 million on his brother’s body, missing for five years.

A corpse dumped by gangster henchmen Gary (Tim Blake Nelson) and Jimbo (W. Earl Brown) is conveniently discovered by Paul, who uses it to stage evidence of brother Raymond’s grisly death. Local cops sign off on the death, and Paul even arranges a funeral to make it look proper, but ambitious Ted — desperate for a promotion out of this Alaskan backwater to the Lower 48 — sniffs out fraud like a bloodhound and won’t let Paul receive his payout check until he’s dotted every i.

The influence of the Coens’ “Fargo” informs nearly every frame of “The Big White,” and it seems that in the interest of doing something different, screenwriter Colin Friesen and director Mark Mylod decide to pile on whimsy upon oddity upon absurdity. Quicker than you can say “plot twist,” who should show up but violence-prone Raymond (Woody Harrelson), complicating Paul’s plans. Gary and Jimbo kidnap Margaret as leverage to recover their corpse, but because these are goofy henchmen, the trio bond cute in Margaret’s kitchen.

A finale on a barren ice field brings every key character together for a tiresome exchange of gunfire and emotional outpouring, concluding on a note that hardly justifies the film’s nature.

Williams strains to project an air of tragedy, and Hunter’s performance as his foul-mouthed wife is best forgotten. Only Ribisi has a bead on his role’s straight-arrow absurdity, while Nelson, Harrelson and Alison Lohman (as Ted’s spacey g.f.) add to the pic’s comic woes.

James Glennon’s lensing in near Arctic environs is less effective than it should be, and other production credits are mediocre.

Canada-New Zealand

• Production: An Echo Bridge Entertainment release of a Capitol Films/VIP Medienfonds 2/Ascendant Filmproduktion production in association with Rising Star. (International sales: Capitol Films, London.) Produced by Christopher Eberts, David Faigenblum, Chris Roberts. Executive producers, Jane Barclay, Hannah Leader, Michael Birnbaum, Andreas Schmid, Andy Grosch, John Schimmel, Kia Jam. Co-producer, Elaine Dysinger. Directed by Mark Mylod. Screenplay, Colin Frieson.
• Crew: Camera (Deluxe color), James Glennon; editor, Julie Monroe; music, Mark Mothersbaugh; music supervisors, G. Marq Roswell, Mary Ramos; production designer, John Billington; art director, Julian Ashby; costume designer, Darena Snowe; sound (Dolby Digital), Louis Marion; supervising sound editor, Karen Baker Landers; special effects coordinators, Lou Carlucci, Ted Shackleton; visual effects, SFD VFX, Creative Post; visual effects supervisor, Chris "CB" Brown; stunt coordinator, Rick Skene; assistant director, Richard O'Brien-Moran; casting, Tricia Wood, Deborah Aquila. Reviewed at American Film Institute, Los Angeles, Oct. 14, 2005. (In AFI Los Angeles Film Festival.) Running time: 105 MIN.
• With: Paul Barnell - Robin Williams Margaret Barnell - Holly Hunter Ted Watters - Giovanni Ribisi Raymond Barnell - Woody Harrelson Gary - Tim Blake Nelson Tiffany - Alison Lohman Jimbo - W. Earl Brown

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The Big White Review

24 Mar 2006

105 minutes

Big White, The

Snowy landscapes. Incompetent hitmen. A kidnapping and insurance scam gone wrong. From the outset it’s clear we’re in Fargo territory here. The problem is, director Mark Mylod (Ali G In Da House) can’t match up to the Coens.

He does have a good eye, but his penchant for broad comedy keeps throwing the tone off-balance. Although the movie features hitmen and a corpse — discovered by Robin Williams’ hapless travel agent, thus setting the plot in motion — it’s actually quite gentle (said hitmen, played by Tim Blake Nelson and W. Earl Brown, wouldn’t hurt a fly). The impressive cast work manfully with their quirky ciphers, but it’s Williams, as a decent yet desperate man trying to hold things together, who makes the biggest impact. The script, though, just isn’t strong enough to make us either laugh or cry, while the climax, in which all the major characters meet for a showdown, is a wasted opportunity.

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Eye For Film >> Movies >> The Big White (2005) Film Review

The Big White

Reviewed by: Moominkat

This quirky comedy-drama is set in the frozen wastes of Alaska and, despite bearing more than a passing resemblance to Fargo , both in style and content, it is still enjoyable. It was also reminiscent of Mystery, Alaska - a film about a quarrelsome hick ice-hockey team - but in fact just about any TV series or movie involving people living in the wilds of Canada will spring to mind. Don't let that put you off. This film is funny, with slapstick and moments of off-beat humour, and has real drama and a gentle sweetness running through it.

Paul Burnell (Robin Williams) is married to Margaret (Holly Hunter) and they a make a lovely, if rather dull and frowsty couple. He's doing his best to make life as good as it can be, given that Margaret suffers from a combination of undiagnosed mental illnesses that none of the experts seem to be able to diagnose.

She displays on and off Tourette's with a side serving of pottiness. In the extras section, Williams describes Margaret as "part ferret, part child", which just about captures her. Her illness has drained Paul's resources, he's at his wits end as to how he'll continue to pay for her treatment, his travel business is going under and he can't even pay the electricity bill on his shop. So he decides to cash in on the life assurance policy he'd taken out on his long-missing brother, hell-raiser Raymond (Woody Harrelson).

Unfortunately, as he's informed curtly by Ted (Giovanni Ribisi) the insurance claims adjuster, no body equals no payout. Raymond's been missing for five years and death can only be assumed after seven. So when Paul comes across an unknown frozen body in a dumpster in the car park outside his shop, (cached earlier by two hitmen), he's desperate enough to take it home to dispose of later, so that the body can be found and he can make the claim. Naturally, weaselly Ted's suspicious. He makes life hell for Paul, who finds himself running the gauntlet of Ted, the hitmen and his long-lost brother, who reads about his demise in a newspaper and comes home to collect his share of the payout.

It's a gentle farce, which works because the characters are so nicely conveyed, you do hope things will work out. And it's fabulous listening to a foul-mouthed Holly Hunter delivering her lines with aplomb: "Say hello to your slut mother" she tells the paper boy with a sweet smile when he collects his money. And that's the politest example.

Read more The Big White reviews:

Director: Mark Mylod

Writer: Collin Friesen

Starring: Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, Giovanni Ribisi, Tim Blake Nelson, W. Earl Brown, Woody Harrelson, Alison Lohman

Runtime: 100 minutes

Country: Canada, New Zealand, USA

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The Big White (2005)

Genre: comedy / drama, duration: 105 minuten, country: germany / canada / new zealand / united states, directed by: mark mylod, stars: robin williams , holly hunter and giovanni ribisi, imdb score: 6,3  (15.117), releasedate: 27 october 2005.

This movie is not available on UK streaming services.

The Big White plot

"When you need somebody, anybody will do." Paul Barnell is a bungling travel agent with a sick wife. His wife suffers from Tourette's Syndrome and Paul hopes that a move to a warmer place can provide a solution to his wife's uncontrollable swearing and name-calling. The problem, however, is that the family is not really wealthy, but don't worry. Paul comes up with a plan and steals a corpse, which turns out to be a mistake. Especially when two hitmen come to claim the body.

Actors and actresses

Paul Barnell

Margaret Barnell

Raymond Barnell

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Trailer The Big White

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• 8580 messages

Geestig. Had gerekend op een Robin Williams show, maar gelukkig krijgt de rest van de cast ook genoeg kans om te schitteren. Van Ribisi tot Nelson tot Hunter, ze doen het erg leuk. En Williams zelf speelt overigens ook alleraardigst. Enkel de rol van Lohman was vrij zinloos, als je het mij vraagt. Geen straf om naar te kijken, maar zag de toegevoegde waarde niet echt. Gelukkig hoeft de film het niet zozeer van zijn geniale plot of script te hebben. De film bevat een portie geslaagde zwarte humor, de typetjes zijn geestig en visueel was het ook bovengemiddeld. De briljante plaatjes bleven misschien uit, maar al met al was The Big White toch een alleraardigste komedie. Beter dan ik had verwacht. 3,5 sterren.

Witty. Had counted on a Robin Williams show, but luckily the rest of the cast also gets enough chance to shine. From Ribisi to Nelson to Hunter they do a great job. And Williams himself also plays very nice. Lohman's role alone was pretty pointless, if you ask me. Not a punishment to look at, but didn't really see the added value. Fortunately, the film doesn't have to rely so much on its genius plot or script. The film contains a portion of successful black humor, the characters are witty and visually it was also above average. The brilliant pictures may not have been forthcoming, but all in all, The Big White was a most charming comedy.

Better than I expected. 3.5 stars.

John Lee Hooker

• 14934 messages

Fargo look-a-like met opvallende karakters en een paar leuke vondsten. Verhaaltechnisch had er nog wat gesleuteld mogen worden want niet alles sloot even goed aan en sommige scènes hadden gerust wat ingekort mogen worden. Kleine ongelukjes bleven maar doorgaan en waren niet altijd even geslaagd. Het syndroom van Tourette vond ik ook niet veel meerwaarde bevatten. De cast brengt het er gelukkig goed vanaf.

Fargo look-a-like with striking characters and a few nice finds. From a technical point of view, some tinkering could have been done because not everything matched well and some scenes could have been shortened a bit. Small accidents kept happening and were not always successful. I also did not find Tourette's syndrome to contain much added value. Fortunately, the cast is doing well.

• 4102 messages

Deze had 'k al een tijdje liggen en me er eens aan gewaagd. Het was geen haha komedie, maar heb me er toch mee geamuseerd. 'k vond het toch eerder een drama/misdaad/komedie, maar alles is nooit echt extreem. De cast deed het niet slecht en het verhaal verveelde niet. Verder zag de film er prima uit. Een leuke film om eens gezien te hebben, geen toppertje, daarvoor blinkt hij te weinig uit in z'n genre, maar toch wel het bekijken waard.

I had this one lying around for a while and gave it a try. It wasn't a haha comedy, but I still had fun with it. I thought it was more of a drama/crime/comedy, but everything is never really extreme.

The cast wasn't bad and the story wasn't boring. Other than that, the movie looked great.

A nice film to have seen, not a great one, for that it excels too little in its genre, but still worth watching.

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The Big White (2005) / Comedy-Thriller MPAA Rated: R for strong language and violence Running Time: 98 min. Cast: Robin Williams, Giovanni Ribisi, Holly Hunter, Alison Lohman, Woody Harrelson, Tim Blake Nelson, W. Earl Brown, Director: Mark Mylod Screenplay: Collin Friesen Review published October 4, 2005

In many ways, The Big White is Fargo redux, as long as those ways aren't being funny, smart, or inspired.  However, it does take place in snow country, it has a dark and offbeat sense of humor, and at its heart, it's a crime thriller full of eccentric characters all trying to get away with something.  The trouble is that Fargo is a unique blend of comedy that the Coen Brothers are known for, and no one else has been able to adequately replicate it.  Not even the involvement of Coen Brothers vets like Holly Hunter ( Raising Arizona ) and Tim Blake Nelson ( O Brother Where Art Thou ) can sell it.  Longtime television director Mark Mylod ( Ali G Indahouse ) and first-time screenwriter Collin Friesen get the look and feel right, and certainly have a capable cast, but the laughs just aren't there, pure and simple.  In the comedy department, The Big White is as frigid and sparse as the Alaskan landscape it takes place in. Robin Williams ( Insomnia , One Hour Photo ) stars as Paul Barnell, an Alaskan travel agent that is struggling to pay the bills, so desperate for money, that he claims his missing brother Raymond should be presumed dead, if only to collect on his life insurance.  Giovanni Ribisi ( Flight of the Phoenix , Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ) is Ted, the insurance man assigned to the case, who promptly turns him down.  Down but not out, Barnell gets a bright idea when he finds a dead man in the dumpster outside his office -- he'll claim the body is his missing brother in an accidental death settlement which will net him a million dollars.  It's not so easy, as Ted is ruthlessly skeptical and tenaciously vigilant in proving Paul is scamming the insurance company, resulting in a test of wills that is only further compounded when the hit men responsible for the unknown cadaver want their body back. Here's a rule of thumb that generally works: if it stars Robin Williams, and it is a comedy, it is a safe bet it's going to disappoint.  Williams is one of the funniest men alive, and yet, somehow movies have never played to his strengths as a comedic actor.  He is a very fine dramatic actor, though, but there's just little in The Big White that suggests they needed someone of his stature to play such an undemanding role, other than for the commercial appeal of a big name to attach to it.  Holly Hunter ( Little Black Book , Moonlight Mile ) steals most of her scenes with a terrific performance as the Paul's wife, afflicted with Tourette's Syndrome, although this is a comedic device that only offers spurts of vulgarity for the sake of having it, never really funny in a genuine way.  Harrelson ( After the Sunset , She Hate Me ) comes in late in the film, in another manic crackpot performance we've seen far too many times in his career.  In short, the creators are desperate to squeeze out any laugh they can get, but they only manage to squeeze the life out of it altogether. Mylod must have thought that casting comedians and terrific character actors that excel at offbeat comedies would be enough to generate natural chemistry from ad-libs and hilarious interactions to make up for the fact that Friesen's script isn't quite funny enough on its own to nail it down.  Unfortunately for us, and for the fans of these actors, things rarely mesh well on any level, as the entire tone of the film is uneven throughout.  It takes a deft hand and genuine insight to make a successful black comedy, like the Coens, who have made a career gaining big laughs despite some very dark subject matter.  For a black comedy, The Big White lives up to its name by being completely devoid of dark moments meriting our laughs or our interest. Qwipster's rating: © 2005 Vince Leo

The Big White review

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Brit TV comedy vet Mark Mylod (The Royle Family) follows his uninspired debut feature, Ali G Indahouse, with a trying-way-too-hard Fargo Xerox suffering from tonal schizophrenia. Like the Coens' wintry pulp-drama, this follows a near-bankrupt Alaskan travel agent (Robin Williams) trying to solve his financial woes with a get-rich-now scheme: a potty life insurance scam, involving, er, passing off a frozen body as his long-lost brother.

On the plus side, a non-gurning Williams doesn't overplay his quest for audience sympathy, while Holly Hunter delivers a slapsticky but sharp turn as his Tourettes-afflicted wife. Giovanni Ribisi also amuses as a rottweiler of a claims adjuster, but Woody Harrelson's boozy hick is just plain annoying. Ultimately, it's Mylod's sputtering attempt to contrive a Coens-lite effect that scuppers his second film.

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Product Description

Though it seems like an easy plan, nothing in life comes easy for Paul Barnell (Robin Williams)

In The Big White , a failing Alaskan travel agent hopes he's found the answer to his problems when a couple of thugs leave a dead body in a dumpster outside his business. The lack of a body has prevented Paul Barnell (Robin Williams, The Birdcage , One Hour Photo ) from claiming his missing brother's life insurance. Unfortunately, the thugs who dumped the body in the first place (Tim Blake Nelson, O Brother, Where Art Thou? , and W. Earl Brown, Deadwood ) want it back, so they kidnap Barnell's wife (Holly Hunter, Raising Arizona ), who may or may not have Tourette's Syndrome. Meanwhile, an obsessive insurance agent (Giovanni Ribisi, Saving Private Ryan ) smells something fishy and thinks he's found the case that will get him and his phone psychic girlfriend (Alison Lohman, White Oleander ) transferred to warmer climes, and Barnell's long-missing brother (Woody Harrelson, White Men Can't Jump ) returns, a bit perturbed to learn he's dead. The Big White suffers from an overload of quirkiness--phone psychics, Tourette's, and possibly gay hit men are a lot of whimsy for one movie--but the actors commit themselves to their roles with gusto. The movie misses the bullseye that Fargo hit, but fans of macabre comedy may enjoy The Big White . --Bret Fetzer

"A Cross between Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski..." --Moviehole.net "...slapstick laughs, surprising warmth and star wattage." --Totalfilm.com "...quirky character comedy set against a frozen landscape." "...Holly Hunter gives a hilariously quirky performance." "Looks like Robin Williams made another great one!" --AintItCool.com

Product details

• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ R (Restricted)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.6 x 5.4 x 7.5 inches; 2.88 ounces
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ PLAD4446DVD
• Director ‏ : ‎ Mark Mylod
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Multiple Formats, AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Widescreen
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 45 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ July 31, 2007
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Robin Williams; Holly Hunter; Giovanni Ribisi; Woody Harrelson; Tim Blake Nelson; Alison Lohman
• Language ‏ : ‎ English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS 5.1)
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000FDEVA2
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #18,550 in Comedy (Movies & TV)

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The Big White (2005) Stream and Watch Online

Watch 'The Big White' Online

Want to behold the glory that is ' The Big White ' on your TV, phone, or tablet? Tracking down a streaming service to buy, rent, download, or view the Mark Mylod-directed movie via subscription can be a challenge, so we here at Moviefone want to do the heavy lifting. We've listed a number of streaming and cable services - including rental, purchase, and subscription choices - along with the availability of 'The Big White' on each platform when they are available. Now, before we get into the nitty-gritty of how you can watch 'The Big White' right now, here are some finer points about the Rising Star Capitol Films Ascendant Pictures Film Entertainment VIP Medienfonds 2 GmbH Co KG crime flick. Released December 3rd, 2005, 'The Big White' stars Robin Williams , Holly Hunter , Giovanni Ribisi , Tim Blake Nelson The R movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 40 min, and received a user score of 62 (out of 100) on TMDb, which collated reviews from 272 respected users. Want to know what the movie's about? Here's the plot: "To remedy his financial problems a travel agent has his eye on a frozen corpse which just happens to be sought after by two hitmen" 'The Big White' is currently available to rent, purchase, or stream via subscription on fuboTV, Amazon Video, Spectrum On Demand, Crackle, The Roku Channel, Peacock, Peacock Premium , Redbox, Kanopy, and Plex .

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, a little white lie.

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Deceit runs amok in writer/director Michael Maren's "A Little White Lie," a comedy set in a humble (and fictional) corner of the literary world where an everyday guy manages to fool everyone around him that he is the reclusive, one-hit-wonder author of a much celebrated and controversial book. But the film's biggest con doesn't come from this imposter protagonist so much as the messy script and direction that squanders an amusing-enough premise, and the apathetic performances from A-listers in search of a purpose other than fulfilling a contractual obligation.

In the lead is Michael Shannon , one of the greatest American actors working today with a gaze as sharp as a razor blade and a distinct, angular face he knows how to flex and soften to both intimidating and powerful effect. Here though, Shannon looks tentative and lost as writer C. R. Shriver, or more accurately, a Shriver who shares nothing with the famous author other than a last name. Part of Shannon's apprehension is perhaps by design—after all, his character is a New York handyman and not the enigmatic genius he pretends to be who gave the world The Goat Time , a book fiercely feted for vague-at-best reasons. But Shannon's adrift disposition here feels more see-through than dramatically purposeful. While he delivers his lines softly and distantly, one often feels that he's pondering how and why he ended up in this movie.

Still, we tag along when Shannon's down-on-his-luck Shriver accepts an invitation from a modest Midwestern literary festival of a struggling university called Acheron, an institution that mistakes him for the real deal. The annual affair is organized by Simone Cleary ( Kate Hudson , lightyears apart from her movie-star charisma in "Glass Onion"), a professor and writer who believes she's finally scored big and convinces her college's skeptics that their once-relevant festival is still worth their efforts and precious dollars. The drill is quite predictable—the fake Shriver tries to blend in as best as he can, dragged from one intellectual debate to the next stuffy cocktail party, all noted on a schedule he somehow refuses to read. But he barely makes sense as he checks off his itinerary alongside the likes of Cleary, the happy-go-lucky writer Wassermen ( Don Johnson ), a superfan named Delta (the delightful Da'Vine Joy Randolph ), a nosy journalist ( Benjamin King ), and another professor played by M. Emmet Walsh. All these escapades are supposed to be funny ... I think. But the humor of the film never lands.

One of the many issues of "A Little White Lie"—adapted from Chris Belden's novel Shriver —is the film's inability to define why Shriver has become so famous with a single book in the first place. During a Q&A session with Aja Naomi King's feminist author Blythe Brown, this question especially rises to the surface—many in the audience, along with Brown herself, seem to think of Shriver as a sexist author of a book filled with offensive language. So why does Acheron invite him if his prose has not aged well? And why does the liberal-minded Cleary still think so highly of him if The Goat Time  is that problematic? But before we can consider these questions, the film shifts gears with Brown's disappearance and Shriver becoming a prime suspect in Detective Karpas' ( Jimmi Simpson ) investigation. 

Another imprecise examination in "A Little White Lie" is the film's stance on both the pretentiousness of the literary world and the ingrained imposter syndrome all creators battle with at one point. With such a thin story and caricature-adjacent characters, it's anyone's guess what Maren's trying to say about such ambitious inquiries. Not helping the matters are some of his stylistic choices: the most shocking thing about a second Shannon showing up out of nowhere to represent Shriver's inner voice is how trite this idea feels. Also lackluster are the endlessly searching score of Alex Wurman —a jazzy beat that neither meshes with nor elevates the film's tone—and the film's exceedingly crisp look, reminding one that even an average TV episode these days manage to feel more cinematic. It would have been one thing if we could at least root for the inevitable romance between Hudson and Shannon's characters—but with both actors delivering indifferent performances, a palpable chemistry never materializes between them.

The story's got a double-twist up its sleeve, a resolution that features an amusing-enough Zach Braff in a forgettable cameo. But it's sadly an annoying one, serving no purpose other than making "A Little White Lie" even more uninteresting, to tell you a little cold-hard truth.

Now playing in theaters and available on digital platforms.

Tomris Laffly

Tomris Laffly is a freelance film writer and critic based in New York. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), she regularly contributes to  RogerEbert.com , Variety and Time Out New York, with bylines in Filmmaker Magazine, Film Journal International, Vulture, The Playlist and The Wrap, among other outlets.

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Film credits.

A Little White Lie (2023)

Rated R for language.

101 minutes

Michael Shannon as Shriver

Peyton List as Sophie Firestone

Kate Hudson as Simone Cleary

Perry Mattfeld as Layla

Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Delta Jones

Zach Braff as Real Shriver

Aja Naomi King as Blythe Brown

Natasha Hall as Virginia

• Michael Maren

Cinematographer

• Jeff Castelluccio
• Ed Yonaitis
• Alex Wurman

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The new road house movie's positive reviews are a miracle after last year's 32-year-old remake failure.

The critical consensus on the 2024 Road House movie is that it's great, which is especially astounding after last year's biggest failed remake.

• Road House's 2024 remake impresses critics with genuine praise, nearing double the Rotten Tomatoes score of the 1989 original.
• The remake stays true to original's cheesiness and emotion, favoring action-packed cheese over storytelling smarts.
• A risky straight-to-streaming release on Prime Video may hinder the Road House remake's potential for winning over audiences.

The critical consensus on the 2024 remake of Road House is that it’s a surprisingly great movie, which is especially astounding after last year’s failed remake of a different cult classic. The original Road House , released in 1989, stars Patrick Swayze as a bouncer at a newly refurbished roadside bar who defends a small Missouri town against a crooked business tycoon. The remake, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, revolves around a former UFC middleweight fighter who winds up taking a similar job as a cooler at a roadside bar in the Florida Keys and running afoul of some local troublemakers.

When a remake of Road House was first announced, it seemed wildly unnecessary, because the original isn’t a particularly great story; its popularity rests entirely on Swayze’s star power, so remaking it seemed like a fool’s errand. However, now that the reviews are in, it seems that 2024’s Road House is actually an awesome movie, and might even surpass the 1989 original. Filmmaking is challenging, so it’s a miracle when any movie turns out good, but the Road House remake’s positive reviews are particularly miraculous, considering the circumstances (and the fate of a similar remake).

Why The Road House Remake's Reviews Are So Great (& How They Compare To The 1989 Movie)

The 2024 remake of Road House has an impressive “fresh” score of 71% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is nearly double the “rotten” score of the 1989 original, a dismal 41% . The reviews for the original Road House either appreciated the film in a so-bad-it’s-good way or denigrated the film in a so-bad-it’s-bad way. It received some points for Swayze’s typically charismatic performance and the shameless cheesiness of the action scenes, but most critics agreed it was nothing special. The 2024 remake, on the other hand, has received genuine praise from the majority of critics.

This new version of Road House has been lauded for maintaining the original movie’s best qualities. It’s refreshingly heartfelt, leaning into its cheesiness and unembarrassed emotions without any winking self-awareness. Critics have noted that the remake favors action-packed cheese over storytelling smarts, but they’ve also pointed out that that’s faithful to the original film. Doug Liman’s grounded direction has been hailed for his Jonathan Demme-like approach to ludicrous material , and the performances of Gyllenhaal and his co-star, MMA legend and first-time actor Conor McGregor , have been positively received for their commitment.

The Road House remake will drop on Prime Video on March 21.

Road House's Rotten Tomatoes Score Is A Welcome Change After 2023's Cult Classic Movie Remake

When a cult classic like Road House gets remade, it’s par for the course for critics and audiences alike to hate it. Usually, the critics have written half of their review before they’ve even seen the movie, because it’s become so predictable for remakes to be bitter disappointments that pale in comparison to the original. In many ways, it’s even harder to remake a cult classic than a regular classic. Regular classics are just timeless gems with well-told stories, and it’s obvious why they work, but cult classics with a certain so-bad-it’s-good charm are trickier to pin down.

Last year’s White Men Can’t Jump remake is a perfect example. The 1992 original succeeded because of Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson’s unique on-screen chemistry, and because it brought clever storytelling and sharp characterization to the familiar genre of sports comedy. The 2023 remake was panned for smoothing down the edges of the original for a safe, formulaic sports movie. Based on the reviews, it seems that the Road House remake is everything the White Men Can’t Jump remake wasn’t: it’s true to the spirit of the original and it’s a fresh take on a well-known story.

Road House 2024 Still Shares 1 Major Obstacle With White Men Can't Jump's Remake

While Road House has won the battle for positive reviews, the war isn’t over yet. It still needs to win over audiences, which will be tough because it’s being released straight to streaming on Prime Video. Road House had a bit of behind-the-scenes controversy with Liman strongly opposing Amazon’s decision to skip a theatrical release and Gyllenhaal claiming that a straight-to-streaming release was always the plan. Either way, the Road House remake won’t be coming to theaters and will go directly to Prime Video to be watched at home.

This means that the Road House remake could still face the same fate as the White Men Can’t Jump remake. 2023’s White Men Can’t Jump was buried in the streaming library of Hulu, and as a result, it made no splash in the cultural conversation. Sadly, the same could end up happening with 2024’s Road House . Some of Road House ’s reviews have pointed out that it could have been a decent-sized hit if it was released in theaters, but it’s too late for that now.

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The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time.

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Brightwood review – enterprising sci-fi horror sees jogging couple caught in a loop

Dane Elcar writes, directs and films this innovative indie movie that follows a bickering couple with seemingly no end

A plucky microbudget indie, Brightwood is a masterclass in what is achievable with hardly any money whatsoever: just a premise, a couple of actors, and a writer-director (Dane Elcar) who doubles as cameraperson. It’s also an illustration of the limits of the form, because it would be starry-eyed and untrue to claim that money makes no difference to what can be achieved.

We open on a couple, jogging in the woods and fighting as they go. Jen (Dana Berger) and Dan (Max Woertendyke) have evidently been married for long enough to really get to know and dislike each other. She’s listening to a podcast about how to divorce, he’s irritated she won’t take her earbuds out long enough for them to have a conversation, she’s furious about his drinking and flirting and, on top of everything else, he’s wickedly hungover. Their interactions have a painful, circular feeling to them, each loop of their protracted argument landing a staccato rap on an existing bruise. You want to pull them out of it, but can’t. They’re so wrapped up in their own toxic dynamic that it takes them a while to realise they are caught in a loop in more ways than one.

Here’s where the film enters into more surreal territory: Jen and Dan find that there is seemingly no way out of the circular path around a pond in the woods which they’ve been navigating. They keep finding themselves back where they started, quite literally. These kinds of time loops or impossible spaces may be a fairly standard feature of sci-fi, but the dovetailing of the glitch with the psychological landscape of the characters is what lends it a little bit of the heft of something like Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel.

Unfortunately the characterisation is also trapped with the limitations of microbudget film-making, which requires that the script and two actors carry the entire weight of the film. There’s nothing especially wrong, per se, with either the writing or the performances, but a film with more resources has more options; you can support the actors and dialogue with other elements, say, a juicy turn from a favourite character actor, or add some knockout set pieces or production design. Here, we’re essentially locked in with no change of scene, just like the characters; and there are moments where that becomes an endurance test in the wrong way. Nevertheless, this is intelligent, scrappy film-making that should lead to bigger things for both cast and crew.

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