by The Film Stage
Welcome to the Rileys isn’t as creepy or as smaltzy as it could have been. The script, if handled inappropriately or in a blunt manner could have led to a horrendous hallmark movie. But due to subdued and patient direction from Jake Scott and a trio of terrific performances, Welcome to the Rileys is a film filled with well-earned heart.
Doug (James Gandolfini) and Lois Riley’s (Melissa Leo) marriage is falling apart. After the death of their teenage daughter, their marriage has grown colder and colder. Both are isolated in their own saddened worlds. Doug is having an affair, while Lois lives a trapped life never leaving their Atlanta home. After the death of Doug’s mistress, who’s the only bright spot of his already isolated life, he gets the opportunity to go on a business trip to New Orleans. This setting being a perfect representation of the three central characters – where he’ll get to make another world for himself when he meets the teenage stripper (and prostitute) Mallory (Kristen Stewart).
The relationship that’s formed between Doug and Mallory could have been creepy or a sign of major delusions from Doug, but it’s handled with a surprising amount of warmth and understanding. It’s obvious that he sees his lost daughter in Mallory and it’s not played as if he’s trying to replace her, but rather getting a taste of something he once had and cherished: being a father. Mallory represents the perfect (and subconscious) scapegoat for Doug. With his mistress now gone, which also wasn’t done in a sleazy fashion, he ended up being pulled back to Lois. With Mallory, he once again tries to leave the reality that includes Lois and his dead daughter.
Not too long after a steady relationship between Doug and Mallory is made, Lois shows up. Lois comes out of an urge to rekindle their relationship and to indulge in a spontaneous act to feel alive again. Once there, the affection Doug and Lois once had for each other reappears. Mallory both makes them feel like parents again. While the bond that Lois forms with Mallory does feel a bit rushed at first, it’s understandable why she would grow so fond. It’s not as well developed as Doug and Mallory’s relationship but overall, it’s still believable.
Gandolfini and Leo are perfect when it comes to Doug and Mallory. Gandolfini brings back that sweetness and vulnerability he showcased in Where the Wild Things Are, making Doug into one of the most empathetic characters of the year. It’s heartbreaking when you see Doug in a moment of sadness. The same goes for Leo, who carries a somber tone with her throughout most of the film. They’re both tragic figures that have a similarly tragic girl bring a sense of hope to their lives. Mallory is similar to Doug and Mallory, but her emotions are more furious and uncontrollable. Stewart holds her own with Gandolfini and Leo once again proving when she’s outside of the Twilight universe, she’s capable of so much more.
Despite its bleaker moments, Scott has made a film about hope and the ending is only further proof. The wrap-up may feel a bit like a perfectly tied bow, but Scott makes sure to remind us that even though their lives will most likely go on happily, there will still be moments of pain. Welcome to the Rileys is a film about the tragedies and joys of life, and an excellent one at that.
8.5 out of 10
Source
Doug (James Gandolfini) and Lois Riley’s (Melissa Leo) marriage is falling apart. After the death of their teenage daughter, their marriage has grown colder and colder. Both are isolated in their own saddened worlds. Doug is having an affair, while Lois lives a trapped life never leaving their Atlanta home. After the death of Doug’s mistress, who’s the only bright spot of his already isolated life, he gets the opportunity to go on a business trip to New Orleans. This setting being a perfect representation of the three central characters – where he’ll get to make another world for himself when he meets the teenage stripper (and prostitute) Mallory (Kristen Stewart).
The relationship that’s formed between Doug and Mallory could have been creepy or a sign of major delusions from Doug, but it’s handled with a surprising amount of warmth and understanding. It’s obvious that he sees his lost daughter in Mallory and it’s not played as if he’s trying to replace her, but rather getting a taste of something he once had and cherished: being a father. Mallory represents the perfect (and subconscious) scapegoat for Doug. With his mistress now gone, which also wasn’t done in a sleazy fashion, he ended up being pulled back to Lois. With Mallory, he once again tries to leave the reality that includes Lois and his dead daughter.
Not too long after a steady relationship between Doug and Mallory is made, Lois shows up. Lois comes out of an urge to rekindle their relationship and to indulge in a spontaneous act to feel alive again. Once there, the affection Doug and Lois once had for each other reappears. Mallory both makes them feel like parents again. While the bond that Lois forms with Mallory does feel a bit rushed at first, it’s understandable why she would grow so fond. It’s not as well developed as Doug and Mallory’s relationship but overall, it’s still believable.
Gandolfini and Leo are perfect when it comes to Doug and Mallory. Gandolfini brings back that sweetness and vulnerability he showcased in Where the Wild Things Are, making Doug into one of the most empathetic characters of the year. It’s heartbreaking when you see Doug in a moment of sadness. The same goes for Leo, who carries a somber tone with her throughout most of the film. They’re both tragic figures that have a similarly tragic girl bring a sense of hope to their lives. Mallory is similar to Doug and Mallory, but her emotions are more furious and uncontrollable. Stewart holds her own with Gandolfini and Leo once again proving when she’s outside of the Twilight universe, she’s capable of so much more.
Despite its bleaker moments, Scott has made a film about hope and the ending is only further proof. The wrap-up may feel a bit like a perfectly tied bow, but Scott makes sure to remind us that even though their lives will most likely go on happily, there will still be moments of pain. Welcome to the Rileys is a film about the tragedies and joys of life, and an excellent one at that.
8.5 out of 10
Source
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Welcome To The Rileys: Kristen Stewart Into Baring Not Biting Flesh
By Prairie Miller
One of the most emotionally eloquent moments in Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls, is when a grieving mother who's lost her children cries out in despair, 'God didn't save my babies.' To which another character replies, 'Then save some other women's babies.' This key episode in excavating human hope when there's not much around, more than makes its point but never follows through. Welcome To The Rileys on the other hand, assumes the burden of that mission in the extreme, and however unlikely.
James Gandolfini drops his tough guy Sopranos persona and gets in touch with his sensitive side in Welcome To The Rileys as Doug, a suburban Indiana plumber running a successful equipment business. He's also trying to move on with his life as best he can after the death of his only child, while keeping looming midlife crisis at bay. Unlike Doug's withdrawn, chronically depressed wife Lois (Melissa Leo) who still fusses over their departed daughter's room as if she's still around, and has even made the couple's reservations so to speak, much to his dismay, at the local cemetery for internment next to their child's grave.
Doug's frustrating, seemingly borderline terminal existence gets turned around during a plumber's convention down in New Orleans one night, when he heads off to a low end strip bar to drink away painful memories. But he's cornered instead by sexually aggressive combo stripper/lap dancer and underage incidental hooker Mallory (Kristen Stewart) and spurns her relentless flirty advances.
When Doug runs into Mallory the next day by chance, he's soon moving into her life as father figure to a surrogate daughter as substitute for the one he's lost whether she likes it or not, and she mostly doesn't. And after Lois' wayward spouse announces he's not returning home anytime soon, she somehow overcomes her self-imposed physical isolation from the world. And impulsively heads off to join him in a quite thankless and most unwelcome parenting endeavor, targeting a fiercely resistant Mallory.
Welcome To The Rileys is the feature film debut of Ridley Scott offspring, Jake. And with Jake Scott's embrace of psychologically driven, muted dramatic momentum over action, he's evidently not a chip off the old block.
But while the pacing often sags, Stewart and her radical transition along with impressively expanding range from Twilight's moping teen to abrasive, profoundly damaged rude womanchild, effectively picks up the slack. As she settles into a sleazy routine that seems just as relaxed hanging around infatuated vampires, as glued to stripper poles and pasties. Though a testosterone stifled Gandolfini appears somewhat less comfortable in his own extreme switchup from wise guy to relative wimp, and assigned here to deferring to Stewart as the no-nonsense sassy chick in charge.
Samuel Goldwyn Films
Rated R
2 1/2 stars
Welcome To The Rileys: Kristen Stewart Into Baring Not Biting Flesh
By Prairie Miller
One of the most emotionally eloquent moments in Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls, is when a grieving mother who's lost her children cries out in despair, 'God didn't save my babies.' To which another character replies, 'Then save some other women's babies.' This key episode in excavating human hope when there's not much around, more than makes its point but never follows through. Welcome To The Rileys on the other hand, assumes the burden of that mission in the extreme, and however unlikely.
James Gandolfini drops his tough guy Sopranos persona and gets in touch with his sensitive side in Welcome To The Rileys as Doug, a suburban Indiana plumber running a successful equipment business. He's also trying to move on with his life as best he can after the death of his only child, while keeping looming midlife crisis at bay. Unlike Doug's withdrawn, chronically depressed wife Lois (Melissa Leo) who still fusses over their departed daughter's room as if she's still around, and has even made the couple's reservations so to speak, much to his dismay, at the local cemetery for internment next to their child's grave.
Doug's frustrating, seemingly borderline terminal existence gets turned around during a plumber's convention down in New Orleans one night, when he heads off to a low end strip bar to drink away painful memories. But he's cornered instead by sexually aggressive combo stripper/lap dancer and underage incidental hooker Mallory (Kristen Stewart) and spurns her relentless flirty advances.
When Doug runs into Mallory the next day by chance, he's soon moving into her life as father figure to a surrogate daughter as substitute for the one he's lost whether she likes it or not, and she mostly doesn't. And after Lois' wayward spouse announces he's not returning home anytime soon, she somehow overcomes her self-imposed physical isolation from the world. And impulsively heads off to join him in a quite thankless and most unwelcome parenting endeavor, targeting a fiercely resistant Mallory.
Welcome To The Rileys is the feature film debut of Ridley Scott offspring, Jake. And with Jake Scott's embrace of psychologically driven, muted dramatic momentum over action, he's evidently not a chip off the old block.
But while the pacing often sags, Stewart and her radical transition along with impressively expanding range from Twilight's moping teen to abrasive, profoundly damaged rude womanchild, effectively picks up the slack. As she settles into a sleazy routine that seems just as relaxed hanging around infatuated vampires, as glued to stripper poles and pasties. Though a testosterone stifled Gandolfini appears somewhat less comfortable in his own extreme switchup from wise guy to relative wimp, and assigned here to deferring to Stewart as the no-nonsense sassy chick in charge.
Samuel Goldwyn Films
Rated R
2 1/2 stars
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