Review of Roadie

Introduction

Let`s go back, way back to 1980 when Meatloaf was a slice and a half larger than he is now. There were some brilliant films released that year and Meatloaf had already had a huge selling album Bat out of Hell. Released in 1978, it was to spend eight years in the British charts. Luckily nobody saw this film or it could have all been so different.

Meat plays Travis W. Redfish who drives a beer truck but dreams of escaping. Every day he says he will get a new job tomorrow and every day he continues to drive the truck with his friend B. B. Then one day he is asked to fix a motorhome and ends up driving it to Austin Texas. He is bewitched by a girl who wants to become the ultimate groupie by bedding Alice Cooper. Suddenly his life has changed; he`s a roadie and one of the best. The film follows his journey as he tries to impress the woman he loves and persuade her that being the best groupie in the world is not a good career choice.

Video

There is not a whole lot to say about this other than it`s from 1980 so expect nothing and you won`t be disappointed. There is very little by way of interesting location and with the leading actors not exactly lighting up the screen there`s not a lot to see there.

Audio

You might be tempted by the idea of having some Meatloaf music on DVD but he doesn`t sing and those accompanying songs bear little relationship to his style of music. It is not worth buying the DVD for and the script is so bad I can`t bring myself to think about it. Films billed as comedies which usually contain some funny lines…sadly not.

Features

Excuse me to those at the back would you really want to suffer more than you have already?

Yes there is a trailer and that should be indication enough to put the DVD back in its case and send it to the local charity shop.

Conclusion

It`s enough to make a person give up watching films. Turkey`s don`t come much more stuffed than this. It is excruciatingly awful. It is not so bad it`s good it`s just bad. Meatloaf`s expressions have been fully explored in the first five minutes of the film. Several pop and rock stars make embarrassed walk-ons. Roy Orbison was so wooden I was convinced he was already dead when he made this. Whoever thought this film was a good idea is probably working, if at all, as a roadsweeper now so at least they are not leading a pointless existence. This film should be in a lead lined box in a deep dark vault and if I was Meatloaf I would buy all available copies and send them into Room 101.