Larry Richman's review of WTTR

Welcome to the Rileys plays off familiar themes. How a family deals with grief was explored in two of my favorite films of the 2009 festival year. The Greatest, my Top Pick from last year's Sundance Film Festival, and Accidents Happen, which played Tribeca last spring, both look at the tragic consequences of the premature loss of a child. In his second feature, director Jake Scott appears to be stepping into familiar territory.

At first glance Ken Hixon's screenplay says Pretty Woman meets My Fair Lady, with businessman Doug Riley (James Gandolfini) on a mission to tame wild stripper Mallory (Kristen Stewart). The story takes us in a more unexpected direction, however, and its originality begins to emerge. Welcome to the Rileys isn't about redemption per se, but the way that we are inexplicably changed by the strangers who serendipitously enter our lives.


The Rileys are Doug (James Gandolfini) and Lois (Melissa Leo), and it's apparent from the start that their marriage has seen better days. While barely hinting at the tragedy which has slowly pushed them apart, Doug spends more and more time away from home while Lois stays locked inside. On a routine trip to a convention in New Orleans, a visit to a strip club places a young runaway (Kristen Stewart) into Doug's lap. What happens next is not as predictable as it seems, and a fuse is lit which burns ever so slowly as the lives of these three lost souls are altered in the most unpredictable ways.

The film's opening shot sends an immediate and powerful message about the look of this film -- a face obscured in shadow, close up, with only an outline hinting at the actor's identity. Then, lighting up to smoke, the familiar image of actor James Gandolfini fills the screen. The delicate use of natural light and shadow permeates the film, giving it a noir look that perfectly matches the mysterious nature of the characters' thoughts and true motivations. Night scenes are lit using the same type of lamp which illuminates the French Quarter, adding to the indie feel. Marc Streitenfeld's delicate, jazz-influenced score is used sparingly, punctuating the poignant moments of the movie.

Copious use of closeups blends well with the lighting and sound design, and cinematographer Christopher Soos makes full use of the playful visuals offered by colorful and quaint New Orleans. Pacing is appropriately slow, with the patient hand of editor Nicolas Gaster at the helm.

Most of all, Welcome to the Rileys is character-driven, with Leo, Gandolfini, and Stewart each owning their roles with an intensity that never wanes. Few actors play the tortured wife and mother as well as Melissa Leo. As the agoraphobic Lois Riley, her quiet desperation is palpable. Leo's face reflects painful tragedy one moment and shines with the glow of a new mother the next. Gandolfini combines the strength of an experienced road warrior with the innocence of a young man taking his first girl to the prom. His presence dominates this film and his sensitive performance is breathtaking. Stewart takes risks which would be daunting to actors twice her age. Brash and offensive, her Mallory is like a wild tigress in heat that's escaped from the zoo and evades capture at every turn. This could be her most shocking and memorable performance yet.

Director Jake Scott, in his second feature, doesn't shy away from his pedigree -- he's the son of Ridley and nephew of Tony Scott, who serve as producers -- but leaves no doubt that he comes from his own school of filmmaking. On the face of it, this film seems to be a variation on classic dramatic themes. But Welcome to the Rileys retains a unique quality to it that sets it apart from the rest. If you look closely enough, the message is clear. Life-changing experiences aren't planned. They hit you when you least expect it.

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If the "Twilight: Eclipse" premiere was the tough ticket of this year's L.A. Film Festival, drawing roughly 5,000 fans from all corners of the U.S. in order to get a glimpse of Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner at the Nokia Theater, then "Welcome to the Rileys" proved to be damn near impossible.

Kristen Stewart fans gambled on the ability to sit less than ten feet away from the star inside one of the smaller Regal Cinemas at L.A. Live, but having to contend with the fact that seven of the 15 rows in the theater were already roped off for VIPs of one kind or another.

LAFF director Rebecca Yeldham came out to introduce the film and moderate the post-screening Q & A (a job usually handled by programmers or volunteers), and before the film started, Melissa Leo spoke on behalf of herself and co-stars Stewart and James Gandolfini, who stood off to the side, a reminder that "Welcome to the Rileys" not only boasts a talented ensemble, but one of the most spotlight-weary as well.

For those who have been following the film's distribution drama since Sundance, it was unveiled with a brand spankin' new Samuel Goldwyn/Destination Films logo in front, replacing Apparition as the distributor, who will bring the film to theaters in October. But the real drama was on screen, with the idiosyncratic tale of a wholesale plumbing supply salesman (Gandolfini) who attempts to drown his sorrows in the Big Easy during a trade show and encounters a stripper/prostitute (Stewart) who reminds him of his late daughter who died in an accident. Leo plays Gandolfini's distant wife.

Gandolfini, Stewart, Leo, writer Ken Hixon and producer Michael Costigan took to the front of the theater to discuss the origins of the film. Naturally, Stewart received the bulk of the questions, being asked in particular about playing a role so different than her most famous creation in "Twilight."

Stewart admitted that she wasn't necessarily afraid of playing a stripper, but "I was terrified because it was written really well" and expressed pride in learning some of the film's stripper moves, though mostly they happened off-camera. "The silhouette in the beginning?" Stewart rhetorically asked almost giddily, "Thanks. That's me."

Saying she would "jump off a bridge" for director Jake Scott, Stewart found talking to the working women of the Dixie Divas strip club in New Orleans where the film was shot was key to finding her character, noticing the many lost women like the one she played with "dead eyes" and "open wounds." When prodded by an audience member, Gandolfini confirmed that the toughest scene in the film for him to shoot was a scene where Stewart is particularly vulnerable in the lot of a motel parking lot. Gandolfini said, turning to Stewart, "I remember that was a long evening because you had to fall apart so many times."

Stewart lightened the mood when asked about whether she had any issue with some of the tough language her character uses, confessing that during a scene where the character gets a urinary tract infection, she "felt really weird saying 'pussy'" in front of Leo.

In order to achieve the perfect pitch for the scene, Leo improvised off-camera, saying "make pee pee," a comment that somehow gave Stewart the inspiration to carry on, though she wondered whether Leo felt strange about it. "I'm a mother, Kristen," Leo fired back, getting the night's biggest laugh. "It's not weird to say 'make pee pee' for me."

On a more serious note, a fan pointed out that Stewart had said in previous interviews that her turn in "Welcome to the Rileys" was the role she liked playing the most, a statement she clarified by saying, "Maybe it just affected me the most...Sometimes you can leave shit at work or you can't." Of "Rileys," she said, "this is undeniably in you."

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