The Riot Club
DIRECTOR: Lone Scherfig
CAST: Jessica Brown Findlay, Max Irons, Holliday Grainger, Olly Alexander, Sam Claflin, Sam Reid
CLASSIFICATION: 16 VLSD
RUNNING TIME: 107 minutes
RATING: **
THIS FILM could just as well have been called Rich Boys Behaving Badly, because for the most part, that is all we get.
The opening sequence introduces us to the origin of the Riot Club at Oxford University, named after a Lord Riot who lived and loved a life of excess, dissipation and, above all, indulging the senses – so good, old-fashioned hedonism.
Fast-forward to modern times and the club needs new members. Enter two contenders from the minor ranks of aristocracy and the hazing begins.
While Miles (Irons) is pretty down to earth, Alistair (Claflin) is the more overt snob, setting them up on opposite ends, hence the scene is set for some sort of confrontation.
For a film supposedly about the most exclusive club at Oxford, dedicated to hedonism, these youngsters spend a lot of time talking about doing stuff and very little time actually indulging in the senses or any manner of true debauchery. They do eventually get together on the far reaches of town – having been banned from every other establishment – to bond over a night of heavy drinking.
Things get out of hand and the drunk kids spout all sorts of vicious things from their entitled positions about being sick of poor people, but spoilt British aristos talking down their noses is nothing new.
Based on the West End play Posh, this one remains talk-heavy, but it doesn’t tell you anything you don’t already know – that some people think money can buy you anything and, up to a point, people let them get away with it. While it creates a suitably unpleasant atmosphere, this is in service of a very slight narrative.
While it is somewhat of an indictment on white male privilege, it never really gets sarcastic or satirical about the upper class and the ending ties everything together in a very neat bow, completely ignoring the complexity of real life. The boys in the club remain inter-changeable, with their snooty accents and high cheekbones and other than Miles, no one really gets too much characterisation.
If this is supposed to mock the upper class, it doesn’t quite get there, and if it is supposed to give us insight into the idea of unearned privilege, we still don’t learn anything new.
What we do get is bad behaviour from kids the film places on a pedestal anyway, and then the audience gets berated for liking them and then… nothing.
If you liked God Help the Girl, you will like this.