''Welcome To The Rileys'' Review by Star-Telegram
R (strong sexual content, pervasive strong language involving a teenager, brief drug use); 110 min.
At first glance, Welcome to the Rileys -- the feature-film debut from Jake Scott, son of Ridley and nephew of Tony -- seems like a warmed-over casserole of clichés. A middle-age man, stuck in an emotionally cauterized marriage, seeks rejuvenation in the company of a stripper/prostitute who, underneath her foul-mouthed exterior, isn't so bad after all.
Yet the movie is a reminder that good, or at least intriguing, things can come in what seem to be predictable packages. Informed by a couple of understated yet powerful performances and a twist on the usual hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold story line, the flawed yet somberly powerful Welcome to the Rileys ends up packing an unexpected punch.
James Gandolfini is Doug Riley, an Indiana businessman whose relationship with wife Lois (Melissa Leo) has turned numb since the death of their teenage daughter in a car crash. While in New Orleans for a convention, he drowns his troubles at a local strip club only to find his fatherly instincts awakened by one of the strippers, Mallory (Kristen Stewart).
Abruptly, he decides to stay in New Orleans and help her clean up her circumstances. Meanwhile, back home, Lois -- turned agoraphobic in her grief -- struggles with not only with the loss of her daughter but possibly her husband and her entire life. What she decides to do may be unrealistic, but it gives the story added heft.
But what really make the film are Gandolfini and Leo, who play their parts with an exquisite sense of quiet pain. Never mind that the film should have been shorter or that Stewart, a long way from her days as the tortured Twilight teen, is a bit one-note. Welcome to the Rileys is a welcome surprise.
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-- Cary Darling
Source => Star-Telegram
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