A somewhat uneven protest of English nobility and a denouncement of nepotic privilege, The Riot Club’s message is a redundant one: unchecked, inherited wealth leads to problems.

| Aug 3, 2023

If you ever find yourself aghast at the current state of British politics, this might give you some of the answers - but don't say I didn't warn you...

| Oct 8, 2020

A finely-crafted combination of high drama and observant kitchen-sink realism shot in Oxford locations makes for a gripping narrative which just about stops short of pandering or polarising.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 25, 2019

The Riot Club is a welcome attempt to rail against aristocratic entitlement and makes for a compelling watch; it's just a shame that the message is drowned in the bacchanal.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 3, 2019

What a sad missed opportunity it is -- a poorly written squirmathon that is the most appalling film about Oxford I have ever seen, which is saying something given the 1990s rowing horror True Blue.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 19, 2018

Wade, 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.

| Original Score: 4\5 | Aug 18, 2017

They may be scum, but those Riot Club boys sure know how to fill out a tuxedo handsomely.

| Aug 14, 2017

If the movie were solely [the] forty-five or so minute [debaucherous centerpiece of a banquet] it'd be a resounding success.

| Original Score: B | Feb 27, 2016

If you think the English class system is a thing of the past, this savage indictment the country's privileged will set you straight.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 18, 2015

[A] lack of subtlety throws the film into a spiral of excess that knocks over any chance at intelligent commentary as it plows forward, drunk on its own narrative.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Oct 7, 2015

At an exclusive Oxford club, privilege and cruelty have become second nature

| Jun 24, 2015

... spends more than an hour depicting the extremes of bad behavior before settling for a safe and conventional resolution that rings false.

| May 1, 2015

An tough to watch but entertaining inside look at the vulgar side of the posh life.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Apr 17, 2015

Who's up for a little blunt-force social commentary about the haves and have-nots, set in the rarefied clime of Oxford University?

| Original Score: 1/5 | Apr 15, 2015

The film makes for a pertinent indictment of white-male privilege still clinging here in the 21st century. It's somewhat less satisfying as a movie thanks to a heavy, sombre tone that might have been well served by a little satiric leavening.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 10, 2015

Although the performances are uniformly on point and the dialogue is tartly British, the film ultimately fails to earn its riotous stripes.

| Apr 9, 2015

[A] searing satire of the British upper class, a film at its best in moments of viscerally shocking depravity, but mired in talk.

| Original Score: B- | Apr 3, 2015

It's not subtle, but it's stylish enough to sell the film's second half.

| Apr 2, 2015

The Riot Club...feels like the British cousin to The Wolf of Wall Street.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 1, 2015

The Riot Club is less a free-for-all-brawl than a somewhat grating kerfuffle. Sherfig who won us over with An Education lost her way a bit here, no doubt because Wade couldn't transform her own play into a thoroughly enticing screenplay.

| Mar 31, 2015