The Riot Club (2014)

The Riot Club focuses on two first year students at Oxford University, where they embark upon a journey to join the infamous 'Riot Club'. During which time reputations are made and destroyed by the clubs decisions.

Overall Review Score

4 out of 10

Review

Based on the 2012 screenplay Posh, the Riot Club (Directed by Lone Scherfig) is a 103 minute British film about a fictional all male dining club at Oxford University. While inspired by the real-life Bullingdon Club, the Riot Club is controversial from the opening credits. The film’s opening salvo towards the spoilt, rich and self-entitlement of the upper classes sets the tone throughout, which causes the audience to react in one of two very distinct ways. Either they will react by finding the oddities amusing or they will be alienated from the film and assume the characters are acting in a pompous and arrogant manner. Overall, the Riot Club is a film that will leave you discussing it after the credits rolled, for all the wrong reasons. Instead of discussing the acting, the authenticity of the film and or how the differences in class are portrayed the audience will be left questioning whether or not the Director and cast vilified the gentry and went too far in their portrayal of the Bullingdon Club.

Reviewer 1's score & comments:

Score: 3 out of 10

Comments:

Inspired by the Bullingdon Club, an Oxford Dining Society infamous for its destructive tendencies that boast alumni, such as, Boris Johnson and David Cameron. The Riot Club portrays the extravagant over-zealous nature of 10 'Posh' people who spend most of the film cocooned in a sense of unearned privilege, arrogant sense of entitlement and utter contempt for the working classes. Though the main cast pulled out some seriously good performances its convoluted depiction of lower class envy and the actors depiction of entitlement made me question whether or not the Director went too far at times.

Reviewer 2's score & comments:

Score: 5 out of 10

Comments:

The Riot Club is a controversial film that can be seen in one of two ways. Firstly, it can be seen as a realistic look at the real life Bullingdon Club, students of Oxford University and how members of the gentry view the class system and the entitlements that come with money. Alternatively, it can be seen as a unique film that provides the audience with an unusual film experience that blends the character development and interactions of a 'stage-play' with the action and adventure of a 'big screen' movie. In short, the Riot Club is a controversial, unusual, but strangely entertaining film.

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