TV Reviews
'The Riches,' a heap of character flaws
By Andrew Lyons
Mar 12, 2007, 01:20

The drama is about grifters, conmen, a family of thieves, and on the face of it, that would seem to offer endless promise of intrigue and drama. And that it does, in a succession of rushes. The problem is that for all their surface charm, conmen--or in this case a con family--aren't at all likeable. The sleights of hand and camera are seductive enough but they never overcome this one flaw.

When we first meet Wayne Malloy (Eddie Izzard, "The Cat’s Meow"), he’s reviewing a yearbook with his teenage daughter and a young son before a high school reunion. But let us not be fooled. This isn’t his reunion and he doesn’t know the people in the yearbook.

The three, father, son and daughter, are attending to lift wallets and cash.

As the kids are roaming about the crowd, filching as they go, Malloy chats it up with the returning grads, displaying quicksilver wit and his great gift for getting people to believe his lies.

It's a stunning performance, both for Malloy and for Izzard creating the role of Malloy.

Even after he and the kids finally leave the party, the rush of his audacious con lingers, leaving the feeling of similar great rushes to come. There's the seduction of the con working, enticing the viewer join in as a co-conspirator.

But then "The Riches" slows to a halt. The family is off to pick up the mother, Dahlia (Minnie Driver, "Good Will Hunting"), who's being sprung after two years in prison. The four return to the campground they call home. The Malloys, you see, are Travelers--sort of American gypsies--who crisscross the country in RVs, conning regular society folks, or "buffers," as they call them.

But the meanderings of a family of con artists don’t alone have the dramatic pull to sustain a series, and as it turns out this is simply the buildup for a far bigger con.

"The Riches" takes a stunning turn. A wealthy couple on their way to a new home in a new state dies in a startling, unexpected way, and Malloy decides that his family will assume the lives and identities of the dead couple, named the Riches.

The family takes over the fancy home the Riches just bought, join the country club and investigate the couple’s history for possible threats to their new, assumed lives. The Malloys get the ultimate opportunity to test their con-artist skills. Wayne is impersonating a dead man, a high-powered securities lawyer, and Dahlia and the kids are busy fending off suspicions of a community no less obsessed with keeping up appearances than Malloy himself.

As an actor, Izzard is a wonder, his performance as a conman riveting. Whatever high-pressure situation he's thrust into, his voice is level and his manner calm. Only his intense, focused eyes betray any hint of distress as he deftly maneuvers through a maze of lawyers, developers and nosy neighbors.

Shannon Woodward ("Cold Case") as daughter Delilah is also a standout. Taking over maternal duties while Dahlia was incarcerated, she’s reluctant to give them back, especially to an emotionally unbalanced druggie. Woodward uses her flat tone and world-weary eyes to effectively channel a girl who has become an adult far too soon.

Noel Fisher ("Godiva’s") and newcomer Aidan Mitchell are solid as sons Cael and Sam.

The one dud in the cast is Driver, who struggles through an over-the-top Southern accent and various overplayed emotional twitches. The heroin addiction she picked up in prison is more tiresome than gripping.

But the strong acting by Izzard and Woodard can't cover up the bigger con working in "The Riches." That con is the attempt to fool viewers.

The Malloys make their living stealing. They steal in just the way all identity thieves steal. They assume the lives of others, in this case an innocent dead couple. There's the rush of seeing whether they will slip past undiscovered. But they don't deserve to. And it's hard to ask viewers to root for them except on the most cynical level.

FX is famous for going to dark places with its shows, but this time around, it’s hard to find any light at all.