TIFF 2024: Riff Raff Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Dysfunctional families have been the root of countless comedies as audiences have families which have inevitably run into some dysfunction at one point or another. Essentially, they are a dime a dozen so nowadays, they have to bring something new to the table or execute those familiar story beats better. But if all else fails, put together an all-star cast and that cast is what pushes Riff Raff over the top. While it is simple, it is absolutely hilarious, hitting more than missing thanks to the aforementioned cast. Fans of the cast, featuring the likes of Jennifer Coolidge, Pete Davidson, and Bill Murray just to name a few, will get a kick out of this one. Meanwhile, running at a brisk 100+ minutes, it moves at a decent pace and doesn’t wear out its welcome. A story about family, this dark comedy is about the things we do for family and in the case of this family, it’s murder. Set around the holidays, a raucous impromptu family reunion, interrupting what was supposed to be was a recipe for disaster.

Specifically, the story is centered around Vince (Harris), a reformed criminal who turned his life around after he fell in love with, and then married, Sandy (Union). Now twenty years later, the couple planned to spend New Year’s Eve at their isolated country home with their son DJ (Miles J. Harvey). However, that plan would be interrupted by Vince’s other son from his previous marriage, Rocco (Lewis Pullman), showing up in the middle of the night with his pregnant girlfriend, Marina (Emanuela Postacchini), and Vince’s first wife, Ruth (Coolidge) under mysterious circumstances. As soon as Ruth enters the scene, it will become clear why his first marriage didn’t work out. She’s rude, crude, and lacks any sort of filter. As Vince’s past life slowly crept back into the picture, the mood of the country home changed drastically, leaving him to deal with it all. Leaving audiences to comb through the relationships between the characters and their backstories, they essentially don’t matter. That being said, the surface dysfunction is more than entertaining enough to get by as the situation around the characters got worse, none worse than mobster Leftie (Murray) and his associate Lonnie (Davidson) showed up.

Leaning heavily on dysfunction for laughs, it ultimately works because of the comedic talents of the more than capable cast and their stellar chemistry. Their deadpan delivery fits nicely with the tone of the film as the writing is catered to their particular strengths. In terms of performances, they were the best part of Riff Raff. The expected names deliver, like Coolidge, Murray, and Davidson, a few others also emerged, like Pullman and Harvey. While Coolidge is once again an absolute force of nature, and Murray and Davidson are delightful in smaller roles, Harvey was a scene-stealer as DJ with his sincere earnestness.

In the end, Riff Raff is a simple yet solid dysfunctional family dark comedy, led by an all-star comedic cast who all deliver.

 still courtesy of Roadside Attractions

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.