Starry ‘Riff Raff’ Falls Incredibly Flat

Dito Montiel’s “Riff Raff” is one of the most off-putting films I can remember, the kind of bad movie that isn’t so-bad-its-good but genuinely hard to endure.

That the leads are Ed Harris, Bill Murray and Jennifer Coolidge, for starters, only makes the film’s failure even more depressing.

Appealing newcomer Miles J. Harvey stars and narrates as DJ, a talkative young man raised by Sandy, his mother (Gabrielle Union) and Vincent, her much older husband (Harris). While staying at an isolated home during the holidays, DJ and his parents find their quiet retreat interrupted by the arrival of Vincent’s son Rocco (Lewis Pullman), his pregnant girlfriend Marina (Emanuela Postacchin) and Vincent’s unconscious ex-wife Ruth (Coolidge).

It turns out that Rocco is on the run from a violent gangster named Leftie (Murray) and Lonnie, his lackey in training (Pete Davidson).

“A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints” was Montiel’s 2006 directorial debut – in addition to filmmaking, Montiel reportedly teaches screenwriting at UCLA. The problem with “Riff Raff” isn’t the performances but the screenplay by playwright John Pollono.

This comes across like a pastiche of so many other movies that came before it, ranging from “Pulp Fiction” (1994) to “Fargo” (1996) and “The Ref” (1994) and many more.

“Riff Raff” feels like one of the dozens of post-“Pulp Fiction,” Tarantino-wannabe crime comedies that littered so much of the late 1990’s film scene. Not all of those violent, self-consciously “hip” shoot n’ quip movies were bad.

However, for every “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead” (1995), there were at least three “Suicide Kings” (1997), “Feeling Minnesota” (1996) and “8 Heads in a Duffel Bag” (1997).

What Tarantino accomplished wasn’t easy, he just made it look and sound that way. The long line of imitators only demonstrated that “Pulp Fiction” was kind of a miracle, with everything that came in its path mostly terrible.

Considering the author’s background, it comes as no surprise that “Riff Raff” feels like a stage play, though seeing it presented as an insufferable night of bad theater isn’t preferable to the all-star treatment it gets here. The actors work the material, but Pollono keeps his story firmly in neutral.

Everyone present is giving performances that remind me of their prior work.

Coolidge is playing a washout with a tendency to say some vile things at random, the kind of role she played far better in Werner Herzog’s “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” (2009). Harris has given far more impactful depictions of men enduring a public slow burn and Union deserves better than appearing in this.

Pullman is effective in a tougher role than usual, though it oddly reminded me of the comic turn his father Bill Pullman once gave playing a similarly impulsive criminal in “Ruthless People” (1986).

Murray’s scary portrait of a truly dangerous man is the best reason to see this, though he was even more intimidating playing a similar lowlife in the vastly underrated “Mad Dog & Glory” (1993). Davidson’s promising scenes with Murray made me wish they were in a different, better movie, instead of appearing here sporadically to bring some needed menace.

The other standout in the supporting cast is Michael Covino, captivating as Leftie’s rotten-to-the-core son, though his scenes, like all of the flashbacks, aren’t really necessary.

“Riff Raff” starring Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Gabrielle Union, Lewis Pullman, Pete Davidson & Bill Murray – The Poster is Here! https://t.co/JfV5aT4ZLa pic.twitter.com/J5GEN4gMD0

— Craig Zablo (@CraigZablo) February 8, 2025

Once we get to the third act, where the ensemble cast faces one another in a single location, it should all come together but just gets even uglier. The ending is a big nothing and the intended thematic exploration of dysfunctional families is, likewise, a complete bust.

Aside from a visual bit where yet another flashback is constantly interrupted by DJ’s needing instructions on how to operate a stove, I never found any of this funny. Adam Taylor’s score emulates Howard Shore’s ticking clock theme from Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours” (1985), yet another movie I wished I were watching instead of this one.

“Riff Raff” premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival to mixed reviews and missed the awards-heavy winter. When a film with a cast this good can’t squeeze into the Oscar season, consider that a warning.

Here’s another one – I love most of the actors in this but will never watch “Riff Raff” again.

One Star (Out of Five)

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