...A movie with the word "Ripley" in the title...here we go, with another 2 hour plus overwrought melodrama with absolutely unappealing characters. This seemed to be a trend in 2022 and 2023. Barry Keoghan, who was so wonderfully understated (and Oscar-nominated) in Banshees of Inisherin, plays the devious, supposedly introverted male in this one. Audiences paying close attention can realize his con game within the first 10 minutes of the movie. Over two hours later, when Oliver Quick ends up being master of his own universe, accountable to no one, we wonder why we bothered. Who needs to see this in a movie when we see it in the news headlines every day.
Performances are good across the board (although Carey Mulligan is not given enough screen time). It is nice seeing Richard E. Grant back, as the only somewhat sane and grounded person in the movie. In the end it's another examination of an outsider entering the lives of the elite, and realizing he likes it enough to con his way into a permanent place there. But the ending is so unsatisfying that one is left with a nasty residue in their mouth.
Performances are good across the board (although Carey Mulligan is not given enough screen time). It is nice seeing Richard E. Grant back, as the only somewhat sane and grounded person in the movie. In the end it's another examination of an outsider entering the lives of the elite, and realizing he likes it enough to con his way into a permanent place there. But the ending is so unsatisfying that one is left with a nasty residue in their mouth.