Road Hard Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Road Hard Blu-ray Movie Review

It's hard out there.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 20, 2015

Most everyone can agree that life on the road is hard, but the road's hardships can come in many different varieties. Sometimes it's living out of a bag, frequent travel, and the absence of a real sense of home that take a toll. But for some people, it's not the process of travel and living in interchangeable hotel rooms but instead the seemingly endless road to nowhere, a life that seems to be lived in circles with no readily identifiable destination in sight beyond vague hopes and dreams. It's a life where hope -- as fleeting and dim as it may be -- doesn't spring eternal but hangs on just tightly enough to make one believe that it's just one more flight or one more hotel bill away from finally turning things around and finding that sense of place and belonging, that stability, again. Road Hard tells the story of a has-been comedy celebrity living out of a suitcase and desperately trying to find something -- anything -- to boost his career prospects by doing his due diligence and working the clubs in hopes that a second shot will reopen one of the doors that have long since been closed. But maybe he'll come to learn that he's been looking at the wrong set of doors all along.

Something different for the road warrior.

Bruce Madsen (Adam Carolla) has watched his promising career slowly circle the drain. He was once one of the hottest faces on television but has been reduced to taking a tired stand-up act on the road, performing to small rooms that, to a person, pretty much know he's lost it. And the pay is barely enough to get him to his next gig. At the same time, his former co-star Jack Taylor (Jay Mohr) has risen to the top, hosting TV's top-rated nighttime talk show. Now, he's living out of hotels and surviving on boxed wine and Twinkies. His only hope is his goofball manager (Larry Miller) whose success has come easy and who cannot understand the real emotional and physical hardships that have befallen his client. He's not even welcome at home. His college-bound daughter Tina (Cynthy Wu) loves him, but his ex-wife (Illeana Douglas) has allowed her new man (David Koechner) to move in, creating a situation that's even more awkward than life on the road. When he meets Sarah (Diane Farr), his life takes an upward swing, but one that will challenge him more deeply and more personally than any of the many lows he's faced in the past.

Early in Road Hard, Adam Carolla's Bruce Madsen says that, by working the small clubs and hitting the road, he's "going back to his roots" and "going back on the road for the fans." What he doesn't say, but what becomes very obvious, very fast, is that those words are just code for "his career has collapsed," a pleasant way of saying his only hope is, almost literally, at times, a shot in the dark. Road Hard offers a solid, but not fully satisfying, portrait of a man who has fallen from grace and who is desperate to get back on his feet. His celebrity carries little weight beyond anyone not pumped full of alcohol and his only real hope comes in his waning persistence on the road at the direction of a manager who has it all without ever leaving the comforts of bare breasts and the liquor cabinet at his luxury home. His temper sometimes gets the best of him and he's known to put his foot in his mouth on more than one occasion, but whether that's because the road is finally getting to him, he's finally losing his comedic touch, or he just doesn't give two you-know-whats anymore is part of the film's appeal.

Adam Carolla delivers a solid performance in the lead role, capturing a duality that slowly merges into the real person along the way, and then takes another turn when a door -- though certainly not the one he likely envisioned -- finally cracks open. The film is a its best as it follows him on the road, dealing with uncooperative and robotic hotel desk clerks, drunken fans, unappreciative audience members, and commiserating with fellow comedians who haven't reached the top. The performances feel a little less organic when he's back home, where in some ways he's even less welcome than he is in the impersonal hotel rooms but where he finds his one true love and reason to live in his college-bound daughter. Carolla also finds a solid chemistry with co-star Diane Farr who plays the most important part in the movie. The film also sees Carolla take his first turn in the director's chair. He brings a quality balance to the film, creating an effortless pace, a mostly tight narrative structure, and a personality to the themes that aren't just portrayed by his character, but rather embodied by him. The film lacks a truly deep substance and insight, even considering its resolution, but it's a breezy and fun movie with a serious side that altogether makes for a pleasing watch.

Road Hard Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Road Hard's 1080p transfer is unassumingly strong. There's a mild flatness to it, courtesy of the HD video source photography, but details prove efficiently crisp and well textured, whether general elements like faces and clothes or more intricate, medium-distance details in comedy clubs and hotel rooms. Clarity is never a problem and the picture never goes muddy or soft. Colors are bold and pleasant, particularly around diners where neon signs, ketchup and mustard bottles, booths, paint accents, and other bits jump off the screen. Black levels are satisfyingly deep and true but do push red when club lighting mixes in. Mild banding and occasional sprinkles of noise appear but never to anything resembling a debilitating extent. This is a solid transfer, one that won't open any eyes but one that won't leave demanding viewers recoiling in terror, either.

Road Hard Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Road Hard travels onto Blu-ray with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Much like the video, the track is fine but not particularly a standout in any way. Musical delivery satisfies with a nicely wide berth across the front three but little in the way of immersive surround or heavy bass. Mild atmospherics are adequately impressive, whether light breezes and birds outside, city traffic, or little bits inside a couple of diners. Dialogue is the primary element, however, and it plays with a commendable center focus and effortless, accurate clarity.

Road Hard Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Road Hard contains four brief extras.

• The Making of Road Hard (1080p, 12:12): A humorous piece that examines crowd funding, casting and performances, and highlights a few scenes.
• Adam Carolla BTS Preview (1080p, 6:31): A piece that's essentially the first whittled down to about half the runtime, complete with repurposed footage.
• Carolla and Cranston Promo (1080p, 4:07): The actors sit down for a funny back-and-forth for the crowd funding video.
• Carolla and Cranston Outtakes (1080p, 2:22): More clips featuring the actors performing together for the crowd funding video.

Road Hard Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Road Hard never quite finds the deeply personal and intimately meaningful narrative for which it searches, but it's still a quality film with some good ideas, several strong performances, and a welcoming, easy flow. Carolla impresses on both sides of the camera, bringing a quality portrait of a breaking -- and mostly broken -- man in search of purpose in front of it and a nicely crafted, highly watchable film on the other. Road Hard could have been more -- it feels like it's afraid to scratch too deeply beyond the surface -- but the end result is a satisfying little personal journey film. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray delivers solid picture and sound to go with a few brief extras. Recommended.