Review of Welcome to the Rileys (2010) by Joel J — 14 Feb 2011

WELCOME TO THE RILEYS is a tough film to review. It features some tremendous performances, with James Gandolfinin, Melissa Leo, and Kristen Stewart each commanding the screen from the opening frame until the very final moment of the film. The problem is, however, that they're never really given much to do in what feels like an incomplete film.

James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo play a married couple that is on the rocks, thanks to the lingering effects of the death of their daughter in a tragic accident. This is the one area where the film does a tremendous job, by not force-feeding the audience all of this information right from the outset, but by actually letting the audience piece it together for themselves.

Kristen Stewart also, once again, proves that when she's away from the Twilight franchise that she can, in fact, act quite well. This is yet another tremendous performance on her part that stacks up quite well with her work in ADVENTURELAND, FIERCE PEOPLE, and INTO THE WILD, amongst several others.

The problem with WELCOME TO THE RILEYS is that it feels rather incomplete. It doesn't feel as though any kind of true resolution was reached in the film. I'm not suggesting that the film should have tied up everything nice and neatly with a bow on top, but things feel unnecessarily unresolved here. The film just kind of plods along for a while and then, all of a sudden, it's over.

WELCOME TO THE RILEYS works quite well as a character sketch of three desperate people who really need each other, but as a dramatic film, it falls a bit short. The performances in the film are enough, just barely, to give the film a "fresh" rating, but more work on the script and in the plot development department could have really made this film into something special.