Dark comedies thrive when mixed with two genres: crime and family drama. Dark rom-coms also can work but Riff Raff is all about family and the trouble we get into just by being a family. With one hell of a cast and the director of the fantastic Guide to Recognising Your Saints, Dito Montiel, someone who knows how to paint crime and family together on screen, you would think everything falls into place. Though the darkness is most certainly present, the comedy is just not.
When Rocco (Lewis Pullman) accidentally kills retired gangster Leftie’s (Bill Murray) son, all hell breaks loose. He drags his father Vincent (Ed Harris), also a tired gangster, his constantly inebriated mother Ruthie (Jennifer Coolidge), his pregnant girlfriend Marina, his father’s current wife, Sandy (Gabrielle Union), and his step brother DJ into the mess he has created. But all of them have their own secrets ready to bubble to surface as they wait for Leftie, and his sidekick Lonnie (Pete Davidson), to arrive and exact revenge.
With a cast such as this, you would think the story would match the talent but unfortunately, this is where Riff Raff falls into the trap on relying on the actors’ good names to prop up a limp predictable story. The family dynamics and shenanigans only produce a few dry laughs, which is a shame, again for the talent on screen. Every other character feels as if they are from a different film. The tragic desperate romance of Rocco and Marina, trying to escape the crime life. The secrets and lies being kept by Vincent and Sandy. The revenge trip that Leftie and Lonnie are travelling on. DJ narrating the entire film like there’s going to be a line about the moral of the story. Finally, Ruthie, who is either passed out or mumbling incoherently throughout. Coolidge, despite the real lack of character, almost steals the entire film with the nonsense she spouts.
This may all seem like it’s a comedy but it’s the darker parts that are the most thrilling—not to mention the surprisingly chilling turn from Murray—which means there is merit to be found in Riff Raff. What ultimately lets the film down is the dialogue. Though the delivery is at times off the cuff, almost as if everyone is improvising, the result is entertaining but frustrating. The cast make do with what they’ve been given, and the scenes that shine the most are the darker ones. If this had been a dark thriller, with those comedic names, it could have been chilling to the bone. But unfortunately, stiff, awkward, forced comedic lines are just left there.
Overall, it’s an intriguing premise, but it does take a long while for the third act to kick into gear and the comedy just doesn’t land. But if you like a good old fashioned dysfunctional family with some gun play, then Riff Raff may just be something you’ll enjoy, and maybe even provide a laugh.
Riff Raff is streaming on Prime Video September 21. Distributed by Signature Entertainment
