Riff Raff

Last night I went to a double feature at the Broadway and I started with Riff Raff because I thought it would be a lot of fun with such a great cast.  It wasn't.  A retired hitman named Vincent (Ed Harris) is celebrating the holidays at his vacation home in Maine with his second family, wife Sandy (Gabrielle Union) and stepson DJ (Miles J. Harvey), who know nothing about his former occupation.  However, his carefully crafted new life is disrupted when his son Rocco (Lewis Pullman) unexpectedly arrives in the middle of the night with his pregnant girlfriend Marina (Emanuela Postacchini) and his inebriated mother, Vincent's ex-wife, Ruth (Jennifer Coolidge).  Through endless flashbacks, we learn that Rocco is being pursued by Vincent's former partner Lefty (Bill Murray) and Lefty's new associate Lonnie (Pete Davidson) for reasons.  This eventually leads to a violent confrontation in which Vincent must reconcile his past with his present.  The convoluted story unfolds at such a glacial pace that, by the time everything is revealed, I didn't really care any more because I was so bored.  The ensemble cast is stacked but the performances are surprisingly bland because they all just seem to be going through the motions portraying characters they've played before.  Finally, this doesn't work as a crime drama because the scenes of violence happen so haphazardly or as a comedy because it is not funny (the only time I laughed was during a brief scene with Vincent's overly helpful neighbors).  This had so much potential but it is ultimately very disappointing and I recommend giving this a miss.