The last we heard of "Welcome to the Riley's" was back at Sundance, when MTV's Eric Ditzian called Kristen Stewart's performance "utterly fearless." There were plenty of clips and stills that had been released to promote the film up until that point, but today we have a trailer (premiering on Yahoo Movies) and an anticipated release date (November 5, limited) for everyone who wasn't at Sundance to look forward to.
Kristen doesn't get that much screen time in the trailer, so it's hard to judge her performance fairly on that. Instead, it sets up the relationship of its two other leads -- James Gandolfini as Doug Reily and Melissa Leo as his wife Lois -- and what gets them to the point where Doug heads to New Orleans and meets Kristen's Mallory/Allison.
Even though Eric had some problems with James' performance, we think it looks phenomenal in the trailer, but the real stand out is Melissa Leo. The almost unanimous Sundance consensus was that Melissa was one of the best parts of the film, and this trailer seems to confirm that fact.
Like we said above, it's hard to judge Kristen's performance on this trailer because it only offers glimpses of her scenes and line delivery, but we feel like we're watching her as Joan Jett or Bella all over again in a different setting. This movie has gotten so big in the "Twilight" community (or, in some ways, the anti-"Twilight" community) because it is Kristen's chance to really push herself and stretch her acting muscles, but seeing that same nervous-run-her-fingers-through-her-hair move that she has become so notorious for didn't set our hopes too high for seeing a whole new Kristen.
This is definitely a movie we plan on checking out come November, and none of the judgments said above are final. Kristen Stewart's best movies (let's face it, she's done better than "The Twilight Saga") are the ones where she plays a troubled youth, so this has the potential to rank pretty high up the list.
What did you think of the trailer? Are you planning on seeing "Welcome to the Riley's" when it comes to a theater near you?
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