Riff Raff

2025 thus far, seems to be on the trajectory for being the year of mediocre films, and Riff Raff is unfortunately added to this less impressive list. The cast alone grabbed my attention as I had no knowledge of its existence prior to its release, and the performances are solid across the board, yet I'm not convinced that the narrative needed such a bloated cast list. The film is a crime-thriller dark comedy, and here lies the problem. Riff Raff struggles to execute what it set out to be, the tone of the movie just felt weird, bouncing between tense dramatical scenes and quippy comedic moments all too often took me out of the experience. Don't get me wrong the characters are interesting, and some decent exposition is given throughout the story, but I felt this would have made a better mini-series instead of a film as its content feels all too crammed in. Plus, Fargo the TV show (2014) knocked it out of the park when it comes to juggling comedy and cinematic drama and I believe this is what the movie intended to achieve. If they took these exact same cast and characters and allowed more room for them to breathe, you could potentially have a banger of a season 6 under the Frago name - right actors/characters, wrong method. Overall, I was less than impressed with Riff Raff, it's not bad and produces some good characters but I felt they needed a lot more exploration to justify the climax.

I went into this movie blind, having only seen the cast list and description. No Trailer. But a dark comedy with a great ensemble cast? Yes Please!

But the movie is sparse with comedy. Some light chuckles here and there. Some characters are just sad, like Coolidge. Everyone portrayed their characters very well though.

The story does a lot flash backs and time jumps. Almost everything is a cut away. It's not a novel story, it's actually very familiar. Actors play their usual tropes. Ed Harris moves on from his troubled past until it catches up to him.

Good use of scenery and music.

It's all well acted, well shot, but meanders without comedy. It was an entertaining watch. But a better script would have given the great cast more to do.

6.5*/10*

More reviews on my YT --GremlinLord615.

This comedy crime thriller feels really dry. The comedy didn't really hit any spot and the family drama is lacking depth. Maybe they should've showed the audience more about Sandy and Vincent's past. And then maybe do the same for Ruth and Rocco's. Cause when I watched their conflicts and family dysfunction, all I got is more questions than understandings. They spilled too much, too soon. In a glance, Vincent's ex wife just seemed like a messed up old lady who likes to get drunk 24/7, and Rocco just looked like the messier version of her. The only decent thing about this movie is when Johnnie's incident was explained. And then the sh#t hits the fan and gave a messy ending. If you have any other movies lined up, skip this one. It's not a good movie. I regretted watching it.

This is kind of a farcical, black comedy. The characters have some life to them, but little depth or context It is reminiscent of a Fargo type story with the banal, the ordinary, sharing the story with extreme violence.

Because of the substantial lack of EARNED back story, most of the characters flat. Surprisingly, Ed Harris' new family dynamic comes across as flat and hollow. Jennifer Coolidge and Lewis Pullman steal the show with their performances. Bill Murray gets honorable mention...because he's Bill Murray, and I'd watch him read the dictionary. But, he's not that funny here, and is trying to play a straight character...who is put into black comedy situations.

If you're going to see a "Bill Murray movie" then you're going to be disappointed on many levels. But, it's not a complete waste. Although, I'm not sure it was worth his gonzo promotion campaign that included eating super hot chicken wings on First We Feast (although that interview was pretty good).

Was really expecting greatness from the all star cast that grabbed my attention, but ultimately it fell short and came across as a pretty average movie.

I went into this movie blind having only seen the cast list and description. Being classified as a Dark Comedy with such a great ensemble cast I expected more. The pacing was incredibly slow from the start, and everything just felt drawn out. Characters don't fit together well and the story is all over the place. There were some light chuckles here and there, but the movie is sparse with comedy.

Based on the cast, this movie had the potential to be a lot funnier. The characters are interesting, but this would have made a better mini-series instead of a film. Fans of the cast members might find this movie worth a stream, but overall, I was less impressed with Riff Raff.