‘Riff Raff’ assembles big names for a small-minded, clumsy mob tale.
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
How can a film with such a great cast be such a mess? That question will gnaw at anyone who sees “Riff Raff,” a Maine-set, mirthless mob comedy with a top-notch cast, including Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Bill Murray, Gabrielle Union, and Pete Davidson?
Directed by Dito Montiel, who made a splash in 2006 with “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints,” an Astoria, Queens, N.Y.-set coming-of-age drama with Shia La Beouf, Robert Downey, Jr., Rosario Dawson, and Channing Tatum. In the opening scenes of Montiel’s latest, we meet DJ (Miles J. Harvey), a young Black high school student who has just been dumped by his girlfriend. Miles lives in a vacation house in the woods with his family and holds a gun (DJ also fires off the film’s narration). But he cannot bring himself to shoot the chipmunk in his sights, even though his adoptive father Vince (Harris) tells him the creature is a pest. DJ’s beautiful mother Sandy (Union) plans to make dinner for the family. DJ’s biological father, who was Black, was killed in a car accident, we are told.
Before you know it, Vince’s good-for-nothing son Rocco (Lewis Pullman of “Top Gun: Maverick,” who does not look like a Rocco) shows up with a very pregnant girlfriend named Marina (Emanuela Postacchini). Also along for the ride is Rocco’s unconscious mother, Ruth (Coolidge, who grew up in Norwell), Vince’s foul-mouthed, drug-addled, and vulgar ex-wife. “What did you do?” Vince asks Rocco accusingly. What Rocco did was kill the son of a mobster named Lefty (Murray) in self-defense, but that makes no difference. Rocco is being pursued by Lefty and his trigger-happy gunsel Lonnie (Davidson).
Shot in Hudson, Bergen, Passaic, and Essex counties, N.J., typically territory associated with “The Sopranos,” “Riff Raff” was written by John Pollono, whose 2021 working-class family and friends drama “Small Engine Repair” was far superior to this New York adjacent mob knockoff. Watching these fine actors struggle with the tone-deaf characters and dialogue is depressing.
As it turns out, Lefty must have his mob-codified revenge. Surprise, Lefty and Vince were once upon a time partners in crime. Vince, who builds tiny wooden boats, no doubt symbols of his desire to sail away from his past, has changed his ways. But, you know, just when you think you’re out, they pull you back in, etc. Ruth blathers on mostly meaninglessly (“I get horny when I’m scared”). The dialogue often mixes philosophy and vulgarity in equal measures. The small talk is microscopic. For some inexplicable reason, the film is punctuated with country music (“Help Me Make It Through the Night,” indeed). Does it make any sense to shoot fireworks off your wooden deck out in the woods, even if it’s New Year’s Eve? Boston College graduate P.J. Byrne and Brooke Dillman are amusing as an annoying, oblivious couple Lonnie plans to shoot at the first opportunity. Harris, one of the greatest American actors of his generation, is also in the same-day opener “My Dead Friend Zoe,” where he is much more powerful playing an alienated and afflicted grandfather. A scene in “Riff Raff” in which Johnny tells his father that he can’t have children is stupid and homophobic. Dimwit Lefty thinks it’s because Johnny must be a “homo“ Oy. ”Riff Raff” never rises above the level of bad “Sopranos” wannabe with a great, stifled cast. Who needs this nonsense when you can re-watch Tony and his more authentic Jersey mugs anytime you like?
‘Riff Raff’
Rating: R for some strong violence, pervasive language, sexual content/nudity, and some drug use.
Cast: Ed Harris, Bill Murray, Gabrielle Union, Jennifer Coolidge
Director: Dito Montiel
Writer: John Pollono
Running Time: 103 minutes
Where to Watch: In theaters Feb. 28
Grade: C
Boston Movie News 