Welcome to the Rileys
Samuel Goldwyn Films | Release Date: October 29, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
18
Negative:
3
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottDec 11, 2010
Without the fantastic performances from Gandolfini, Stewart and Leo, it wouldn't hold together nearly as well as it does. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickDec 11, 2010
Stewart's intense, courageous performance as a 16-year-old New Orleans prostitute is really something special. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreDec 11, 2010
The pleasures of Welcome to the Rileys are in the simplest human message of all. Take an interest in somebody who needs help and the life you save may be your own. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 11, 2010
There are many things to admire about this movie, but the main one is that it doesn't compromise. Read full review
75
MovielineStephanie ZacharekOct 28, 2010
These are all people you feel you've met before in other movies, if not all at once. But the movie's saving grace is that they don't always behave as you expect them to. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 11, 2010
A flawed script prevents Welcome to the Rileys from being the effective meditation on grief and healing it wants to be. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesDec 7, 2010
The hero's psychological transference is so blatant that even the characters begin commenting on it after a while, yet this modest three-hander is capably acted and genuinely touching. Read full review
70
NPRJeannette CatsoulisOct 28, 2010
A creaky, sometimes forced drama that burrows under your skin if you let it, Welcome to the Rileys lurches along like Lois' car as she tries to exit her garage for the first time in years. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigOct 28, 2010
Only two-thirds of this unlikely trio comes close to capturing the complexity of anguish and pain. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineRichard MoweOct 28, 2010
The film wears its heart on its sleeve, but the drama falters when the tone grows over-earnest; additionally, Scott's direction fails to exert a tight grasp on his material. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinOct 25, 2010
Ken Hixon's script contrives a lot of mutual-healing set pieces and then sadly but shrewdly aborts them: That makes the drama more Chekhovian than "quite real." Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumOct 27, 2010
Rileys has been casually dubbed "Kristen Stewart's stripper movie," but the handle doesn't stick: Stewart may wear skimpy clothes and grind once or twice from the neck down, but from the neck up she's all hollow, bruised eyes, twisted little mouth, and classic, coltish K-Stew rebellion. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerDec 11, 2010
Leo, in particular, seems poleaxed with good intentions. Her Lois wins the Most Understanding Wife award. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie OgleDec 11, 2010
Sets out to be a study of grief and how to overcome it, but it rings too false to offer much hope - or entertainment. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaDec 7, 2010
Flat and predictable. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 28, 2010
What keeps the film's fragile realism intact are actors who can make even small moments count. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyOct 28, 2010
Fortunately Stewart seems to thrive in water over her head, and when she pulls Gandolfini in with her the movie gels. It makes you wish the filmmaker had left them in the deep end longer. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 28, 2010
The actors and admirably sensitive director Jake Scott (son of Ridley) can't compensate for Ken Hixon's long slog of a script. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 28, 2010
All three actors come at this gloomy, borderline-preposterous tale from different directions; that they meet up at all - and they do - is a tribute to sincerity and craft. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedOct 27, 2010
Despite its good intentions, this earnest little film seems embalmed. Read full review
50
Village VoiceDan KoisOct 26, 2010
Try as Stewart might, she can't turn this Manic Trixie Nightmare Girl into a real person. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttOct 24, 2010
The movie never overcomes the triteness of its premise. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubNathan RabinOct 28, 2010
The bluntness wouldn't be so oppressive if the film weren't so austere and glacially paced: Welcome To The Rileys is way too humorless. Read full review
40
Total FilmSimon KinnearJan 18, 2015
Handicapped by its paper-thin premise, even a strong cast can’t lift Jake ‘son of Ridley’ Scott’s film out of indie-by-numbers mediocrity. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierDec 11, 2010
If Welcome to the Rileys were a thicker-skinned movie -- if it were the movie it thinks it is -- so much of the outcome wouldn't be telegraphed the minute you read the premise. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenDec 11, 2010
Terrific performances can't save this preposterous film from itself, but they do make it more bearable to watch. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid FearOct 26, 2010
Only Leo, always a dependable supporting actor, turns her character into something resembling a three-dimensional person. Watching her tentatively reconnect with her maternal instincts is a welcome surprise. Everything else here just feels like another descent into mediocre Amerindie miserablism. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 28, 2010
This dreary drama telegraphs every punch, emotion and plot point with a dedication that would have done the old Western Union proud. Read full review
30
VarietyPeter DebrugeOct 24, 2010
Nothing short of preposterous, Jake Scott's film imagines a grieving couple (James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo) who play surrogate parents to an underage stripper ("Twilight's" Kristen Stewart) and spins it for the "Blind Side" crowd. Read full review
12
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanDec 11, 2010
"Welcome to the Rileys"? Thanks, but no thanks. Read full review
More From This Movie

50 Critic Reviews

8.2 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL