Montiel has explored the volatile dynamics of broken families scorched by crime in his debut previously, but with Riff Raff he seems unsure and diffident. This one goes back and forth into thriller and comedy mode and it works out rather dis-interesting
Riff Raff movie review
Film: Riff Raff
Cast: Ed Harris, Gabrielle Union, Jennifer Coolidge, Bill Murray, Lewis Pullman, Miles J. Harvey, Pete Davidson, P.J. Byrne, Emanuela Postacchini, Michael Angelo Covino
Director: Dito Montiel
Rating: 2/5
Runtime: 103 min
A mashup of crime, comedy and family thriller, this film has an impressive ensemble cast led by Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Gabriel Union, Bill Murray and Lewis Pullman, but nothing much to show for it. Their presence is of course entirely wasted in a film that can’t make up its mind about where it wants to go.
The movie begins inventively. DJ (Miles J. Harvey), is seen holding his stepfather Vincent (Harris) at gunpoint. DJ explains, in a voice over, that none of what we see was supposed to happen. He was in fact, just getting ready to become a freshman at Dartmouth… So the movie goes back in time.
John Pollono’s screenplay takes us back to meet out-of-luck duo, DJ’s step-brother Rocco (Lewis Pullman) and his pregnant Italian girlfriend Marina (Emanuela Postaccihini) who are being targeted by Lonny (Pete Davidson) and Leftie ( Bill Murray), two quirky, ruthless gangsters. Rocco and Marina run to Maine, along with Ruth (Coolidge), Vincent’s spaced out ex-wife, to the cabin where DJ, his Step-dad Vincent and his mother Sandy (Gabrielle Union) live. The gathering may seem like they are home for the holidays but there’s something sinister cooking behind the farcical bonhomie.
This movie is nothing like ‘Goodfellas, No Country for Old Men, Reservoir Dogs, Blue Velvet and A History of Violence’ the films Montiel refers to while classifying the script. The script might have been interesting but the treatment is sloppy. The narrative entangled in flashbacks give us glimpses of Rocco and Marina’s courtship, DJ’s heart-break after being heartlessly dumped by his girlfriend, and Sandy’s introduction of Vincent to her wealthy and disapproving parents.
Director Dito Montiel tries to make the jokes count but they mostly seem out-of-place. The suspense is rather feeble. The disjointed structure with two separate story-lines fail to make the eventual collision cohesive.
Ed Harris plays gruff, tough patriarch, Bill Murray blends his usual deadpan wisecracking with something more sinister, Jennifer Coolidge plays an oversexed middle aged woman, and Pete Davidson is the warped, annoying sidekick.
The ensemble cast don’t raise the bar here. Their performances feel repetitive. They’ve all been seen in similar roles previously. The face-off between Ed Harris and Bill Murray is somewhat interesting. Pete Davidson, Gabrielle Union and Jennifer Coolidge perform by rote.
Montiel has explored the volatile dynamics of broken families scorched by crime in his debut previously but this time round he seems unsure and diffident. This one goes back and forth into thriller and comedy mode and it works out rather dis-interesting. For most of it’s runtime the movie doesn’t make sense. But towards the end everything falls into place. Unfortunately that’s a little too late for the audience waiting with baited breath trying to make sense of the disorganized screenplay. The violence at the end feels unearned. The abrupt switches in tone rings false. The movie goes topsy-turvy trying to mesh between humor and seriousness. There’s hardly any consistency in the overall tone of the narrative. The relationships dynamics feel too sitcom like and the end result is bedlam. The way Montiel navigates the story’s tonal shifts leaves you feeling listless.
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