Jennifer Coolidge and Bill Murray shine in crime comedy

This summer saw a lot of ripoffs from the Coen brothers, including the release of Greedy people and the streaming attraction Apple Original Films The instigators. One could call these and many others of recent years Coens.Light. But the Coens themselves, or at least Ethan, have recently tried to recreate their earlier success in this genre with the forgettable Drive-Away Dolls Beginning of the year. So here's to director Dito Montiel and screenwriter John Pollono, who managed to revive the genre with style. Riff Raff, World premiere today at the Toronto Film Festival.

With an excellent, perfectly selected cast, this hilarious crime comedy hits the mark, a combination of No country for old men And Large Point Blank, add a touch of Agatha Christie's And then there was none left, season it with some Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? Then cast the role with stars like Bill Murray, Pete Davidson, Jennifer Coolidge and Ed Harris, to name a few, and you have the recipe for a great movie.

Pollono, a playwright by trade, actually produced the play as a stage play first, and one can imagine how that would work, but adapting it for the cinema proves a natural fit, and bringing these actors together to play it is a gift for moviegoers looking for intelligent, slightly brutal entertainment. Plus, it's laugh-out-loud funny in many places.

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Have you ever been to a family reunion that turned out to be a nightmare? That's pretty much what Riff Raff is at its core about a dysfunctional family with a troubled past – at least some of them. In a remote East Coast house somewhere in Massachusetts (the film was shot in New Jersey) we meet a young African-American, DJ (a great Miles J. Harvey), who is getting a shooting lesson from his stepfather Vincent (Harris). They live with Harris' wife Sandy (Gabrielle Union) and seem happy with their blended family. Unexpectedly, Vincent's son Rocco (Lewis Pullman) shows up with his pregnant girlfriend Marina (Emanuela Postacchini) and a completely unconscious Ruth (Coolidge), Rocco's mother who was once married to Vincent. They sit her on the couch and we later learn that she has been drugged. When she finally comes to, it's like old times and she's horny as hell. Coolidge really hasn't been able to play this kind of character yet and just like in White Lotus, she steals the picture.

As the plot progresses, we learn that Rocco is on the run, and it doesn't take long to see the connection. Cut to a supermarket with customers Leftie (Murray) and dimwitted co-worker Lonnie (Davidson) buying some snacks. Unfortunately for the clerk, who mistakenly claims Lonnie is Leftie's son, this sets off the trigger-happy Leftie, who shoots the guy in the head. He makes it clear that Lonnie not his son, but unfortunately it is revealed that Jonathan is the one and as it turns out, he was murdered by none other than Rocco after Jonathan (Michael Angelo Covino in flashbacks), who used to date Marina, threatened his ex-girlfriend. So Leftie wants to avenge Rocco for taking away his only son. The problem is that they have to find out him and suspect that he has returned to Vincent's suburban home, only that Vincent and the family are actually in their other remote house, which is unregistered and where it would be impossible to find them. Rocco knows this.

BUT when Leftie and Lonnie arrive at the empty house registered in Vincent's name, two nosy neighbors, Janet (Brooke Dillman) and husband Garrison (PJ Byrne), stop by with a plate of cookies and helpful advice, assuming they are relatives or friends of Vincent and his family. This couple are really a piece of work, but they also, without having a clue, give Leftie and Lonnie a nicely detailed map of how Where their neighbors are gone. This whole encounter is hilarious to the point of collapse, with both Dillman and Byrne hitting the comical opportunities even as they are about to become victims themselves. “But I thought we shouldn't kill anyone else,” Lonnie says. “This couple is a must kill,“, says Leftie. Everything gets more intense, more suspenseful and still pretty funny as all hell breaks loose and one by one this estranged family finds themselves in a fight for their lives.

Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) manages all of this skillfully without the soufflé ever collapsing or the tone losing its balance between the very witty and precise dialogue and the crazy situation in which all the characters come together. Pollono's adaptation of his own play is endowed with the cleverness and crackle of something far beyond the average of this genre.

The acting couldn't be better. Coolidge is a blast playing this messy human being who we still root for. Harris plays her very stoically and holds our attention even before it's revealed that he himself has a criminal past with Leftie. Murray is so good in another Toronto film here this week. The friend, handles one of his best roles in years with absolute authority and works superbly alongside Davidson, who is a sort of Norton to his Ralph Kramden. The rest of the cast is equally good.

Riff Raff is an unexpected gem rarely seen these days, a true original that audiences are likely to devour if they have even the slightest chance to see it in theaters. Producers are Noah Rothman, Sarah Gabriel, Marc Goldberg and Adam Paulsen.

Title: Riff Raff
Festival: Toronto (special presentations)
Distributor: Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate
Director: Ditto Montiel
Screenwriter: Johannes Pollono
Pour: Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Gabrielle Union, Lewis Pullman, Miles J. Harvey, Emanuela Postacchini, Michael Angelo Covino, Pete Davidson, Bill Murray, Brooke Dillman, PJ Byrne
Duration: 1 hour 43 minutes