Welcome to the Rileys

Year 15, Day 41 - 2/10/23 - Movie #4,342

BEFORE: Ten films into the romance chain after tonight, but that's only about a quarter of the way through, though it is more than 1/3 of the way through February.  I may add one more film next week at the last minute, I haven't been all that crazy about which film is scheduled to end up on Valentine's Day, so I might be for a slight adjustment - nothing crazy, just adding one more film with an actor that was going to appear in three films, now it may be four.  I should still hit my St. Patrick's Day film right on the nose, I'll just take away the free day in March that I had planned. I should always leave a free day, really, in case something like this pops up. 

Kristen Stewart carries over from "Spencer". 

THE PLOT: On a business trip to New Orleans, a damaged man seeks salvation by caring for a wayward young woman. 

AFTER: This is not really a big romantic film - though the tagline on the DVR guide was different, it might have led me to think so.  Saying that the lead character "gets involved with a stripper" might lead to you to think so too, but really, he just gets involved IN HER LIFE, not involved with her romantically or sexually.  But in a roundabout way, this brings him back to his wife, so maybe I was justified after all, placing this one in February.  

At the start of the film, it sure seems like the Rileys are on the verge of divorce, they can't stand each other, which leads Doug Riley to have a pancake house waitress as a girlfriend on the side. For four years. But there's a valid reason why the relationship is on the rocks, the couple's daughter is dead, and they're both still grieving, in their own ways.  Doug's wife, Lois, has chosen to never leave the house, and to do fatalistic things like pre-plan their funerals and buy their gravestone in advance.  So clearly there's not much in life for her to look forward to.  

Well, at least Doug has his plumbing supply business, and the big plumbing supply convention to look forward to.  Who knew that Plumb-Con was such a big deal?  I'm kidding, but this apparently is a real thing, the next big one coming up is the Kitchen & Bath Expo in Las Vegas starting January 31, and great news, the National Hardware Show and the NAHB International Builder's Show are happening in the same city at the same time, so you can hit them all!  But I wonder why Doug Riley didn't just stay in Indianapolis, because in February that city hosts the WWETT (Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport) Show.  Now, if you ask me, I'd tell you to hold out for the Flow Show in Pomona, CA in March, but that's just my personal preference. If you want to go to Vegas, go to Vegas, I recommend the buffet at the Paris because it's separated into FIVE sections representing the cuisines of different regions in France. 

Anyway, it's clear that Doug Riley sees something of his daughter in this stripper who comes on to him at the club.  At first he agrees to go into a private room with her, I think just because his friends came into the strip club and he didn't want to be seen there.  But then he fell for the old "buy the stripper a bottle of champagne in the VIP room" trick, which probably cost him about $200, but only $60 of that goes to the stripper.  And he didn't even get a BJ or an HJ out of the deal!  Before long he's made Mallory (or whichever name she's going by at the time) his personal project, and he goes home with her, but only so he can start cleaning up the place.  He calls his wife and tells her that he's not coming home, at least not for a while, and then starts in on the home renovation projects, from unclogging the toilet to getting her electricity turned back on.  I can't even imagine how much this all cost him. (I've got to get an extra tank added to our heater, and I've been avoiding it for months, because it's not an emergency - I finally called the plumbing repair company again yesterday, and they should be here next Thursday. It will be nice to not have to empty the bucket by the boiler every few days.)

Meanwhile, Lois is taking gradual steps to leave the house, because she wants to find out why her husband didn't come home from the convention.  The first day she packs a lunch, gets the car ready, checks the oil, cleans off the seats, adjusts the mirror, and then falls asleep before backing out of the garage.  Yeah, this may take a while.  The second day, she makes it out of the garage but then runs over the garbage can and hits the basketball net.  Ok, try again tomorrow, I guess. 

Soon, Doug's paying Mallory $100 a night to sleep in her house because he "doesn't like hotels".  Who the hell doesn't like hotels, with their pools, exercise rooms, unlimited ice and free breakfasts?  Why, sometimes I'll hit up a hotel for a free breakfast when I'm not even staying there!  (The key is too look like you belong, with luck the front desk people will just assume you're a guest that they didn't see sign in, because nobody can work the desk all of the time and check everybody in...). Surely this must be a lie, an excuse for him to give Mallory more money so she doesn't have to have sex with her clients at the club.  

Eventually Lois makes it to New Orleans, and for some reason she's OK with the fact that her husband is sleeping at a stripper's house and paying her for that privilege, also he's cleaned, painted and redecorated the whole place.  Not only is Lois OK, but she starts helping Mallory get her act together, too - it's not stated, but perhaps Mallory closely resembles their late daughter or something, why else would they be so eager to help out a stranger like this?  Anyway, they can only do so much to "fix" Mallory, because at the end of the day she's simply NOT their daughter, and she's also a very stubborn person, so they have no choice but to drive back to Indiana and hope that they made a difference in somebody's life.  It's noble, I suppose that they stayed as long as they did, but as I said before, it somehow brought them closer together and got Lois out of the house, so that's not nothing. 

Also starring James Gandolfini (last seen in "Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me"), Melissa Leo (last seen in "Thunder Force"), Joe Chrest (last seen in "The Blind Side"), Ally Sheedy (last seen in "Adrienne"), Tiffany Coty, Elsa Davis, Lance E. Nichols (last seen in "Contraband"), Peggy Walton-Walker (last seen in "Two Weeks"), Sharon Landry (last seen in "Green Book"), Kathy Lamkin, Ken Hixon, Elliott Grey, David Jensen (last seen in "Geostorm"), Greg DiLeo, Jack Moore, Chris Kuttruff. 

RATING: 5 out of 10 cigarettes smoked in the garage