Riley (film)

"Listen up, gentlemen. This one isnt gonna be any easier. We have a tough opponent out there tonight. Now we know this teams gonna play tough, and we know were gonna face some adversity. You get pushed around, you get back up. You brush yourself off and say "Whats next?" Tonight, you do that, and I promise you were gonna have a good game. Now, Im not saying its gonna be easy. But its gonna be good."

"High school football star Dakota Riley (Jake Holley, adroitly handling a difficult role) lashes out at anyone who suggests or even jokes about his being gay. Truth is, he is buried deep in the closet in a macho world and it’s not only eating him up alive but destroying relationships. Writer/director Benjamin Howard’s debut feels like you’re watching a lived experience, and that’s because it is based partly on his life. It is that rawness and realness that gives “Riley” its extra edge, making it a more formidable queer drama about how repression in a hyper-masculine setting can strangle and suffocate someone until they come up for air."

"There is plenty of eye candy in “Riley,” Holley and McCalla are shirtless in the locker room, the hot tub, and Riley’s bedroom. Howard lets the camera linger over their taut physiques, and the film teeters on the edge of softcore (not that there’s anything wrong with that). There is magnificent cinematography by Michael Elias Thomas, replete with tangerine sunsets, sepia-toned close-ups, and the muted indigo of a football game at dusk. Not to mention those long, loving shots of tight torsos, perky pectorals, and succulent six packs. With football at the film’s center, however, very few pigskins are thrown. The movie is full of tropes, but it’s interesting seeing the story from the POV of the jock and not the nerd who typically falls for him. It’s a grimmer and grittier “Heartstoppers.” The dialogue is simple everyday language with a few French words peppered in from Madame Dupont (Caroline Amiguet) and Storrie’s Liam. This is a drama, and sometimes it takes itself too seriously. Storrie’s character adds a few moments of levity, but Howard’s script is grounded and realistic, reminding us that each person’s Coming Out story is different."

"Throughout our lives, we all face many different decisions. During those moments, we hope to find a path to guide us toward a much brighter, happier, and more fulfilling direction. The most important one is, without a doubt, choosing between the life you want and the one that society constructed for you. It’s already hard enough for straight people (“Your biological clock is ticking”, “When are we going to hear those wedding bells”), but for LGBTQ+ people, it’s even more complicated. If they finally dare to step into the spotlight and reject the heteronormative society, they’re met with a lot of prejudice, fear, shame and uncertainty. And so probably also Dakota Riley, “Riley” for the friends, in Riley, the latest movie by writer/director Benjamin Howard (Deviant)."

"Dakota Riley (Jake Holley, looking like a hot hybrid between Jim Carrey and Tig Notaro) rides his bike to a Grindr hookup but panics when the hookup wants to go faster and further than he planned in Benjamin Howard’s coming-of-age feature film, “Riley.” His Hookup (J. B. Waterman, credited as Obi-Wan Hookup) either doesn’t suspect his “date” is in high school or doesn’t care. But Riley is in his high school, and he’s crushing it. He’s on the football team and hopes to follow in his father’s cleats and go pro. His father, Carson (Rib Hillis), who is also the high school football coach (Go Eagles!), is living vicariously through his son. The dad is a former athlete who sustained a career-ending injury during his pro years. Carson claims he has no regrets, but he carries the regrets in his eyes."