Sparkling ensemble fails to rise above ‘Riff Raff’
An impressive ensemble, including Ed Harris, Bill Murray and Jennifer Coolidge, can do little to salvage the trainwreck that is the tone-deaf crime dramedy, “Riff Raff.” Set in a winter retreat at the dawn of a new year, it’s a familiar tale of the past catching up with a felon who has gone straight, redefined by his adoring second wife and her precocious teenage son. But the echoes of the bad dude’s bygone days reverberate ominously into the present upon the unexpected arrival of his horny, drunken ex, their unscrupulous adult son and the scion’s very pregnant Italian girlfriend.
It turns out the trio is on the lam, pursued by another father – and former hitman associate – this one harboring a grudge and abetted by a henchman with more brawn than brains. Initially, the motives of all are unclear. And for a while, you’re curious about the common denominator drawing these eight disparate individuals toward what we rightly suspect to be a climactic showdown in which blood and grievances are spilled.
The problem is that director Dito Montiel takes too long getting there, filling the 103 minutes with plodding boilerplate plot. Scenarios John Pollono (“Stronger”) fails to infuse much depth or dimension in a collection of one-note “types.” They behave precisely as expected and provide only the vaguest hints as to their largely checkered backstories.
Gabrielle Union draws the short straw, cast as Sandy, the dull straight man serving as a launch pad from which her quirky co-stars indulge their shticks. Chief among them is Coolidge, performing her usual inebriated lush with no filter. Natch, she’s passed out drunk at first sight. Once her Ruth sobers up, you’ll wish she hadn’t. Amid her blathering and staggering, we learn Ruth is the self-pitying first wife of Harris’ Vincent, a made man who gave up the thug life to wed the gorgeous, much younger Sandy, equipped with the world’s most charming, adorable son in DJ (the scene-stealing Miles J. Harvey.).
Sure, Harvey is basically mimicking Manny from “Modern Family,” but he’s so engaging you want to advise him to flee – NOW! – in search of material better suited to his talent. Alas, he’s in it for the long haul, but you’re glad he is because he makes everyone opposite him better, especially Harris as his mentoring stepdad and Lewis Pullman (“Skincare’) as his protective stepbrother, Rocco, who – like his mother, Ruth – has followed the path of alcohol and irresponsibility.
Pullman’s scenes with Harvey are genuinely tender, mixed with moments of melancholy on the part of Rocco, who you know would love to swap places with DJ and possess the intelligence and savvy to make the right decisions. Perhaps that’s why Rocco’s so excited for his latest ladyfriend, Marina (Emanuela Postacchini), to give birth to their son, in hopes he will be the incentive for Rocco to clean up his act. But first he’ll need to fend off an anticipated attack on his father’s cabin by Murray’s vengeful Leftie and Leftie’s right-hand man, Lonnie (Pete Davidson).
Kudos to Montiel (“Ain’t Them Sinners Saints?”) for calling upon Murray and Davidson to go against type and stretch their boundaries. Regrettably, it doesn’t pay off. Neither actor is remotely credible as a low-level mobster who’d rather shoot first and ask questions later. It’s largely because they’re so unconvincing that the film’s climax flatlines. It also doesn’t help that Harris is simply resurrecting his character from 2024’s “Love Lies Bleeding,” sans the terrible hairpiece.
But considering the big picture, nitpicking the casting is pointless. No, the most problematic element of “Riff Raff” is its discombobulated tone. Montiel flails and fails at hitting the sweet spot between comedy and drama. Because he never pinpoints it, you’re left dumbfounded by the level of brutality and how it’s played for alleged laughs. And don’t get me started on the roteness of victims returning from the “dead” to fire one final shot or take a last stab. Also, how is it that a character who’s suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the torso shows up in the next scene with no visible injuries beyond an arm in a sling?
The answer is sloppy filmmaking. And “Riff Raff” offers a primer on how NOT to make a Coen-esque thriller. “Fargo” it most definitely is not.
Movie review
Riff Raff
Rated: R for language and violence
Cast: Ed Harris, Jennifer Coolidge, Bill Murray, Lewis Pullman, Gabrielle Union, Pete Davidson and Miles J. Harvey
Director: Dito Montiel
Writer: John Pollono
Runtime: 103 minutes
Where: In theaters Feb. 28
Grade: C-
