A revolutionary, British dart-focused restaurant/bar/event venue is flying into a buzzy Houston mixed-use development. The bustling Allen Parkway corridor project Regent Square will welcome Flight Club, the immersive pub making waves in the U.K. and here in the U.S.
This is the first Texas Flight Club outpost, set to open late 2021. (The venue boasts a popular presence in Chicago.)
Visitors should expect a decidedly retro Brit vibe, with plush booths, semi-private gaming areas, vibrant vintage signage and decor, and a ubiquitous red phone booth in an 8,500-square-foot space.
Press materials promise a “unique social gaming experience through specially designed technology and spacious set-up,” as well as an eclectic bar program led by award-winning Peter Vestinos, plus a menu curated by acclaimed Chicago Chef Rich Gresh.
Oh, and the darts and games. Pub games and darts are central here; the space can accommodate groups of six to 400. More than 160 million darts have been thrown by some 2 million people globally since the venue launched in October 2015, per the company.
“Houston is an incredibly diverse city with vibrant food and drink scene–we are so thrilled that our first Texas location will be in this market,” said Alan Cichon, U.S. president of ownership company, State of Play. “Houston has shown the world time and time again how resilient it is, and we cannot wait to be a part of the fabric that makes up the Houston culture.”
Adding a little note that he gets it, Cichon noted, “everything is bigger in Texas, including our concept.”
Flight Club promises a vibrant, festive atmosphere.
Photo courtesy of Flight Club
Flight Club promises a vibrant, festive atmosphere.
Director Sam Raimi has gone through different phases as a filmmaker, including leading the first Spider-Man trilogy and joining the MCU with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But he first gained notice with the gory and funny Evil Dead movies, a sensibility he’s returning to with his latest film, Send Help.
Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is a meek and eccentric middle manager at a financial firm that’s just named Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien) as its new nepo CEO. Bradley’s dad had promised Linda a promotion to vice president, but she gets passed over in favor of one of Bradley’s frat buddies, sending her into a mild rage. Still, she gets invited along on a planned business trip to Thailand, during which she hopes to prove her worth.
Unfortunately for most of the passengers on the private plane, it crashes into the ocean, leaving only Linda and Bradley alive on a deserted island. Linda, who has privately developed survival skills, adapts quickly to the forbidding environment, while Bradley tries to revert to bossing her around. But Linda quickly understands the power dynamic has shifted, and she uses this knowledge to try to keep Bradley in line, turning their stranding into a battle of wills.
Directed by Raimi and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, the film is the classic “so bad it’s good” kind of experience. McAdams, inarguably an attractive and charming person, is given stringy hair, an antisocial personality, and quirks like eating tuna fish at her desk to make her as off-putting as possible. Bradley, along with almost everyone else at her office, is stereotyped just as hard in order to set up the twist of fate.
When the action shifts to the island, things get even more over the top. The audience has already been primed for Linda to demonstrate her survival expertise, but the film does way more than just show her making fire. Whether it’s flawlessly building a shelter or hunting a wild boar, everything Linda does is portrayed in a slightly off-kilter manner. Then they turn everything up to 11, indulging in gore that is so unnecessary that you can’t help but laugh.
The filmmakers prove they’re in on the joke the rest of the way, including a variety of preposterous but hilarious scenarios that would cause massive eyerolls if they were actually trying to take the film seriously. While they do a great job of showing Linda’s ability to handle herself in the wild, they also show that she is somehow the only person in the world who could get a glow up after a plane crash and weeks living in nature.
McAdams, an Oscar-nominated actor for Spotlight, is way too high class for a movie like this, which makes her presence here all the more interesting. She is all-in on whatever Raimi wants her to do, and she’s at her most fun when she goes the animalistic route. O’Brien, who was great in the recent Twinless, doesn’t get as much of an opportunity to show his range, but he still proves to be an interesting foil for her.
Were it released in any other month, Send Help might be looked at as bottom of the barrel material. But with the movie year just getting started, it’s easier to forgive its outrageous plot twists and just have fun, especially since Raimi and his team put the rest of the film together so well.
