
SPOILER: Alistair and Miles, both with aristocratic connections, start their first year at Oxford University though they are very different, Miles is down to earth and happy to have a girlfriend, Lauren, from a lower background whilst Alistair is a snob with aspirations to follow his uncle, a Tory MP. The common bond is that both become members of the Riot Club, a long established elite drinking club priding itself on hedonism and the belief that money can buy anything. Havin... (Full plot summary below)
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SPOILER: Alistair and Miles, both with aristocratic connections, start their first year at Oxford University though they are very different, Miles is down to earth and happy to have a girlfriend, Lauren, from a lower background whilst Alistair is a snob with aspirations to follow his uncle, a Tory MP. The common bond is that both become members of the Riot Club, a long established elite drinking club priding itself on hedonism and the belief that money can buy anything. Having been barred from most establishments in Oxford they have their annual dinner at the function room in a country pub, where their rowdy behavior angers other patrons though they reimburse Chris, the landlord. They hire a prostitute but she refuses to perform group sex, then one of them rings Lauren, whom they importune to Miles' horror. Getting progressively more drunk and ingesting drugs they start to trash the room and, when Chris comes to complain, Alistair savagely assaults him, landing him in hospital. Though shocked, none of the others do anything to stop him except Miles, who is attacked before ringing for an ambulance. The boys are all arrested but believing that the club is more important than the individual they agree not to give statements and suggest that Miles, as the newest club member, should take the blame for the attack on Chris.
Leave your thoughts about The Riot Club.
| Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyFor a movie about a bunch of debauched Oxford swells, The Riot Club is remarkably lacking in wit...and debauchery, for that matter. |
| Screen InternationalMark AdamsA powerful and illuminating delve into the darker side of young well-to-do British men who dub themselves upper class and celebrate their life of privilege through the excesses of an exclusive Oxford University undergraduate dining society. |
| Daily Express (UK)Brigit GrantWade, who also wrote the screenplay, must have done her homework and the banter between these over-indulged young men sounds authentic, though one hopes their air of entitlement has been greatly exaggerated. |
| The ListEmma SimmondsIt might at first seem like a comedy but, with its mounting horrors and nod to those currently in charge, sadly it's clear that the joke is on us. |
| Movie MezzanineAndy CrumpThe Riot Club...feels like the British cousin to The Wolf of Wall Street. |
| Irish TimesTara BradyThe Riot Club can't always transcend its theatrical origins, but there's a nasty sting lurking under all those high spirits and all these pretty people |
| Total FilmNeil SmithAdapting her own savagely funny play Posh, Laura Wade betters it by adding an additional female presence (Holliday Grainger) who sees these Bullingdon bullies at their worst. |
| JoBlo's Movie EmporiumChris BumbrayCould be called THE WOLF OF WALL STREET: THE OXFORD YEARS. |
| London Evening StandardCharlotte O'SullivanIt's almost as if the film has been designed to make fans of Downton Abbey realise the error of their ways. Are you impressed - aroused, even - by the stinking rich? If so, get ready to hold your nose. |
| Blu-ray.comBrian OrndorfCoarse work, attempting to rile up viewers with troubling scenes of destruction and dismissal, but it's also convincingly acted, with accessible emotions keeping the material fascinating. |