The darkly entertaining but derivative crime comedy/drama “Riff Raff” features an amazing cast — some of them playing the kinds of roles we’ve come to expect from them, others out of their go-to comfort zone but reminding us of their range and versatility.
I mean, when you’ve got Ed Harris, Gabrielle Union, Bill Murray, Jennifer Coolidge and Pete Davidson (among others) in a room where more than one gun is pointed with intent, and people are saying things like, “Once you start killing, it sort of becomes your de facto solution for every problem,” that’s one heck of a promising hook, am I right or am I right?
Directed by Dito Montiel (“A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints”), with a wickedly smart screenplay from John Pollono, “Riff Raff’ feels like a mashup of Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” and “The Hateful Eight,” with a touch of mid-2000s neo-noir films such as “Smokin’ Aces,” “Domino” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.”
We start near the end of the story, where a teenager named DJ (Miles J. Harvey) is pointing a gun at his stepfather, Vincent (Ed Harris), who encourages DJ to pull the trigger. DJ tells us in voiceover he was to start college soon, but then — well, let’s go back to the beginning of this tale.
Flashback to the very recent past. The retired Vincent is living a contented life with DJ and DJ’s mom, Sandy (Gabrielle Union), in a beautiful home in a rural Maine. Their idyllic world is shattered by the late-night arrival of Vincent’s estranged, troublemaking son Rocco (Lewis Pullman), Rocco’s lovely and pregnant Italian girlfriend Marina (Emanuela Postacchini) — and Rocco’s mother and Vincent’s ex-wife, the perpetually drunk, horny and foul-mouthed Ruth, who is played by Jennifer Coolidge, and I’ll bet you’re already picturing Coolidge killing in this part.
Turns out Rocco is in trouble, BIG trouble, and it’s about to arrive on Vincent’s doorstep in the form of Vincent’s former associate in crime, Leftie (Bill Murray), and Leftie’s nattily attired and sociopathic and also fairly dimwitted protégé, Lonnie (Pete Davidson). Murray’s Boston accent wobbles a bit from time to time, but he and Davidson are hilarious and yet somehow suitably menacing as a couple of killers who will shoot you dead just because you happened to hear their names.
Once everyone is gathered in the living room and we return to that moment when Vincent is encouraging DJ to shoot him (we’ll not reveal why), “Riff Raff” takes a number of violent and credulity-stretching twists — but even when plot points make no sense, the cast is marvelous, and we’re treated to some terrific dialogue, as when Leftie (played the 74-year-old Murray) says to Vincent (played by the 74-year-old Harris): “Long time. I look at you, I see how old I am.” It’s a treat when a film sprinkles in relatable wisdom amid all the raucous gunplay.