Welcome to the Rileys (2010)

Great Film overall

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

While she's struggling with her lines in some scenes, Stewart pulls it off and is certainly expertly cast. I can't imagine what 18-year-old would've been a better candidate for the role of runaway stripper Mallory. Something about that gritty face, that strikingly unglamorous attitude, that hint of tomboyism in her looks, voice, and mannerisms, that works like magic.She drapes her character with subtle neurotic tendencies and seemingly improvised facial expressions, and when she lets loose, there's no stopping her. The amount of profanity borders on being intolerable, but is brought with such convincing teenage angst that it avoids turning cheap.The pace of the film is relaxed without getting tardy, although I did get the impression you only get to really know the characters when the story draws to a close, as if you're watching a pilot episode.The epilogue disappoints doubly as it presents a somewhat forced positive outlook, something the film is in no need of. While it is clear how plot events might have served as a catalyst for improvement in the lives of troubled married couple Gandolfini and Leo, Stewart changes from self-destructive hooker to neat schoolgirl, from one scene to the next, and nothing lingers to explain any bit of that transformation.I read that director Jake Scott didn't inherit every one of his father's movie genes, but there are similarities that shouldn't go unnoticed: here we have a plot that falls short when evaluated critically, especially in terms of credibility and logical sense, yet I found its aesthetic presentation, acting performances, and profuse melancholy too addictive to even want to think about the story anymore... a liberating experience I've come to love about most of Ridley's movies, anyway.

I'm really mad for those who gave me good recommendations about this film. It's bad in many aspects. For instance, it sounds inaccurate to portray a stripper who works also as a hooker; the story should allow spectator to notice that being a stripper doesn't necessarily mean you're also a hooker. Also, Mr. Riley felt unhappy for some reason, and he decides he wants to talk to someone. Where does he go to? To a psychologist, maybe? To a friend's house, who knows? NO! He goes to a strip club! Of course, you need to talk to somebody and you go meet a stripper, because that's what they're paid for! For some odd reason, she tries to hook up with him a few times, and he doesn't accept because... er, I don't really remember. The fact is that Mr. Riley assumed he cheated on his wife with at least two different girls, and when he goes to a strip club, he decides not to? That doesn't sound particularly plausible. And when Mr. Doug calls his wife to tell her he's temporarily moving out... She realizes he's cheating on her, and what does she do? She says "I know I've been... (a bad wife maybe)?", practically forgiving him to be cheating on her, because it was her fault. I mean, come on! Until the point I paid any attention-- I turned it off around the first hour--, we had no clue why Doug was so unfaithful with his wife. The plot was boring, implausible, slow-paced and without any perspective. Directing was just lifeless. I'm only giving it 3 stars in respect of the actors involved in this, since they weren't that bad. Weak movie, no wonder why it flopped!

Doug Riley (James Gandolfini) is in a desolate marriage with his wife Lois (Melissa Leo). They have been that way since their 15 year old daughter Emily was killed in a car accident. Doug goes on a business trip to New Orleans and he befriends stripper Allison (Kristen Stewart). He tries to be a father figure to her.I have difficulty determining whether it's gritty and realistic or horribly tripe and contrived. I'm leaning toward contrived but I am still willing to like it. All three leads do good acting. Kristen Steward is her usual angry rebellious self. Of course she's tough but yet vulnerable. Gandolfini is a little bit less emoting. He's playing a kind of father-knows-best character. Melissa Leo absolutely hits it out of the park. She's barely holding it together at times. Then she shifts effortlessly into mother hen mode. She is the jewel of the movie.

Jake Scott, son of Ridley Scott, directs "Welcome to the Rileys", an intermittently interesting drama which stars James Gandolfini as a grieving father who bonds with a young stripper as a means of overcoming the death of his daughter.It's a conventional film, and actress Kristen Stewart, too precious and self-consciously cutesy, never convinces as a grungy stripper, but there are nevertheless some interesting things scattered about. Scott nurses some atmosphere out of his New Orlens locations, the visual contrast between Gandolfini's huge, bulbous body and Stewart's near anorexic frame is morbidly interesting, and the film manages to skirt around the erotic fantasies these guy-and-stripper tales usually trade on.Like most films set in New Orleans, "Welcome to the Rileys" is creepily white and middle class. Here's a city with an almost 70 percent African American population, and a film with nary a black face in sight. A city wrecked by, and abandoned after, Hurricane Katrina, and a film in which our focus is on a rich white guy with daughter issues. What the hell?7.9/10 – Worth one viewing.