Director: Lone Scherfig Starring: Sam Claflin, Max Irons, Harry Lloyd, Natalie Dormer Writer: Laura Wade | 3/5 The Riot Club Imagine a boys club that spoilt young men join while they are in college. In said club, their goal is to sure relationships and, in the process, get drunk, philander, and break lots of things with no intent on answering for their actions. Sound familiar? It should; there’s actually no need to imagine. Just about every single college in the world has clubs like these. Fraternities, they’re called. A particularly rotten fraternity, which prefers to go by the oh-so-fitting name “The Riot Club,” is the subject of Lone Scherfig’s latest film. It does not take long to learn the Riot Club’s code of ethics. The first and last thing you do is simply…don’t think about ethics. Sybaritism is their only way of life. It’s the rule by which they make all of their decisions and choose all of their friends. To infiltrate this group of hedonistic apes, screenwriter Laura Wade, who also wrote the play the film is based on, allows us to see through the eyes of two incoming Oxford students. The first is Alistair, an arrogant, sheltered chap played brilliantly by Catching Fire’s Sam Claflin. Alistair is a shoo-in for the Riot Club, seeing how his brother is one of the most beloved ex-presidents the group ever had. He’s a jealous man-boy with something to prove. The second is Miles, another rich and sheltered brat played by Max Irons. Miles has a girlfriend of lower status (Holliday Grainger) and is the only male in the film with a glimpse of a conscious, but he still as piggish as the rest. The only real thing that sets these characters apart is the exemplary acting from the two leads. |
The 107 minute is broken into three parts: the first part where we are introduced to the characters, the second (and main) portion takes place at quaint middle-class restaurant, and the third is the aftermath of the dangerously explosive restaurant section. The evening starts off well enough. The kind, but over-eager restaurant owner wants to impress the posh college kids, but the Riot Club has one goal in mind: absolute rioting. They harass the owner’s daughter, scoff at the culinary mistakes, scare off anybody else who wants to eat a nice dinner, drink a lot, order a hooker, physically destroy the place, and more. Their actions are absolutely despicable, and I think Scherfig (An Education, One Day) wants you to see that.
The best part of this film is being able to hate-bash these detestable young men in your head. Even when they are doing horrible deeds, the club members never cease to be entertaining. Again, bravo to the cast of rising British actors. Those along for the ride include The Theory of Everything’s Harry Lloyd, Sam Reid, Douglas Booth, Olly Alexander and Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer. The story is thin, too thin to make any grand statements about upper-class values and assumed-entitlement. The Riot Club, as I said, is rapturously entertaining, but it fails to make any long-lasting ripples.
If you are thinking just because the characters are British - for the most part; there’s a Greek - then that exempts US fraternities, you are sadly mistaken. I am almost tempted to say it is worse over here in the States. The dilemma presented in The Riot Club extends all the way across the Atlantic, make no mistake.
(Available on iTunes)
The best part of this film is being able to hate-bash these detestable young men in your head. Even when they are doing horrible deeds, the club members never cease to be entertaining. Again, bravo to the cast of rising British actors. Those along for the ride include The Theory of Everything’s Harry Lloyd, Sam Reid, Douglas Booth, Olly Alexander and Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer. The story is thin, too thin to make any grand statements about upper-class values and assumed-entitlement. The Riot Club, as I said, is rapturously entertaining, but it fails to make any long-lasting ripples.
If you are thinking just because the characters are British - for the most part; there’s a Greek - then that exempts US fraternities, you are sadly mistaken. I am almost tempted to say it is worse over here in the States. The dilemma presented in The Riot Club extends all the way across the Atlantic, make no mistake.
(Available on iTunes)