Riff Raff

Riff Raff (2024) has many good qualities, but also a few gaps. Acting is solid, with credible performances by Ed Harris, Bill Murray, Pete Davidson, and other less familiar actors. The plot offers layers of complexity. Production values are adequate for a mid-budget film. It's watchable, but not thoroughly enjoyable. I liked Ed Harris's Vincent, but couldn't identify with him. It was nice to see Bill Murray playing against type. However, I never truly identified with or cared about any of the characters.

Some scenes seemed familiar and predictable. There was possibly an overreliance on flashbacks. It seemed a bit awkwardly politically correct with an interracial romance that laced passion. The ending was a bit noir, but spoiled by a Hollywood denouement and a climatic scene that seemed contrived and improbable. The filmmakers offer exposition on family that doesn't quite fit the action, but leave the viewer wondering what it all meant.

After watching this movie I was left with a few questions. One of them being what kind of movie was this supposed to be? The bio says comedy/crime, but I thinks it fell short of that goal. Secondly, how could such a star studded cast come across as an average movie?

I'm not sure if was a script issue, casting issue, editing issue, or the director just didn't get the script, but I suppose my highest problem with the movie was that I had zero attachments to any one particular character. If anything Jennifer Coolidge stole the whole show, and gave it some semblance of a minor comedy.

It's almost as the movie was suffering from some type of identity crisis, in terms of not being one or the other. The trailer did its job enough for me to give it a watch, and the movie did have some great scenes, but I don't think the vision came out the way it was intended. It's an average movie at best, but given the cast, I was expecting something with a lot more to it. No meat, and all potatoes.

I don't like it when a movie starts with a scene from the end and then rewinds back to the start - however, in this case I can at least understand why they needed to do it. The first 80% of this movie is painfully boring.

Which is a shame because the final sequence of the movie is actually really good and entertaining, proving that the film had the goods all along, it just wasn't using them.

The only scenes that were interesting in the early going were the Bill Murray and Pete Davidson ones. They were some fun villains and more screentime for them would've gone a long way.

'Riff Raff' feels like a waste of a really good cast. A lot of movies would kill to have a cast like this. A generous 5/10.

I don't typically write a lot of reviews, but looking at the comments, it seems that a lot of people found the beginning to be boring which soured their opinion of the movie. I don't quite understand that.

The characters are quirky and the repertoire was phenomenal. There's a lot of nuance in the characters you'd miss in the dialogue if you weren't paying attention. It's almost like a more crass Aaron Sorkin script.

That being said it's not Aaron Sorkin, but it's definitely not boring when it comes to character development. It's one of the few movies where the film timeline moves slowly, BUT you a great amount of character development. This would an amazing TV show.

Long, drawn out and cringe.

I almost feel sorry for Pete Davidson, but he's a dope that does dope.

A bunch of non engaging characters are cruel to each other and most of the people that they encounter. This is just bad wanna be Tarantino and Bill Murray's schtick is old and so is he. Trying to figure out what the point was. And Ed Harris getting it on with gorgeous Gabrielle Union made the skin on my body want to crawl off. Lots of drawn out scenes and Harris's character is such a dried up jerk I don't get what his appeal was. The dough black kid had a few funny lines, and the Italian gal was stunning, but this thing was 20 minutes too long. And twist I figured out in the first 15 minutes.