Review of Welcome to the Rileys (2010) by Russell G — 07 Jan 2012

While this movie does a good job of building a compelling situation and making characters that I felt invested in, it was unfulfilling in its resolution. It is a movie about a dysfunctional married couple devastated by a daughterâ(TM)s premature death trying to piece their life back together by developing a relationship with a troubled orphan teenager.

What was frustrating was to see the first half of the movie works well only feel disappointed later. The characters stop transitioning in the way they started and the movie rapidly wraps up on a down note.

I did not appreciate the undefined open ending, it was bittersweet but it felt more bitter than sweet to me. The acting was good; I was impressed with the different side of Kristen Stewart. Melissa Leo and James Gandolfini do a good job and fit their characters too.

I was hoping for an inspiring story of building a new family âThe Blindsideâ? and this was so far from that.