Road Hard tells the story of a former television star going back on the road to provide for his family. He is living in the guest house outside his Los Angeles home because he is divorced and refuses to leave the valuable property that he pays the taxes on. His wife has remarried and his daughter has chosen the $60,000 a year USC. Thus, he is a stranger in his own home (he can’t come in it) yet he pays all the bills.
The road has made him a pessimistic turd who still has the jokes but his demeanor is beyond sour. He constantly sabotages his chances and has no filter when around stupidity. In more successful times I bet he would keep his mouth shut but as frustration mounts he lowers himself to humiliating situations. You can also tell his annoyance in the way he delivers his jokes. They revolve around the frustration of the road and even small things like hotel key cards elicit five minute rants about the little cards that can be destroyed by cell phones.
Adam Carolla imbues Road Hard with his observations and a lot of it feels like one long bit. However, he has an amicable screen presence and after The Hammer (a better film) he seems more comfortable on screen. He wanted complete freedom so he raised over 1.5 million on fundanything.com and went to town. There were no studio notes, tampering or editing issues. Carolla put in what he wanted and there is a weird purity to that. The movie lives and dies on his shoulders and I think he is proving there are other avenues for distribution.
It does shift tonally from satire to romantic comedy but it never becomes jarring. Road Hard is a singular vision by a very opinionated and funny man. He is blue-collar through and through and I like a different perspective about Hollywood. Road Hard is a film meant for his fans and I love how he still manages to complain about meeting his contributors and bemoans certain descriptions of his film. Carolla isn’t meant for Hollywood.
I’ve enjoyed watching the influx of crowd funded films. One thing I’ve realized is that they are very hard to review. They are meant for a select audience who forked over their cash to watch people they like do something they like. It can come across as fan service but isn’t that what it’s supposed to be about? The people who paid for Road Hard did not want a semi-hard road. They wanted Carolla doing his thing which includes complaining about dogs on airplanes and spreading his justifiable hatred of Hollywood.
If you get a chance check out The Hammer and let me know what you think!
