The Riches DVD Review

The Riches Season 1 is the 4 disc DVD box set containing all 13 episodes of the hit FX television series. It stars Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as Wayne and Dahlia Malloy, a pair of Irish traveler con artists and thieves. The pair also team up with their three children, De De (Delilah), Cael, and Sam.

The series begins as Dahlia is released from prison after serving a two year sentence during which she has developed an a addiction any drug she can get her hands on. After picking Dahlia up from the prison, the family returns to their larger gypsy encampment, where it is revealed that she is gypsy royalty. The family is met with a mixed reception. After an altercation between the self-crowned prince of the clan, Wayne decides it is time for the family to head off on their own, but only after he empties the prince’s safe.

The next day the family is confronted by a group of fellow travelers looking a slice of the pie. Wayne does not succumb to the pressure and a high-speed chase ensues, in motor homes, during which a BMW is run off the road. The other motor home drives off, while Wayne runs to the BMW’s aid, to find that both the passengers have died. Wayne searches the car to discover that the deceased were on their way to their brand new house, a mansion in a prestigious community.

Wayne quickly realizes that this new life is ripe for the picking and he decides that it is time that his family finally gets the “American dream” the only way they know how, by stealing it.

As time goes by and the family moves into their new lives, with a few hiccups of course. They find work, enroll in school for the first time, and begin to discover that the man whose life they have stolen was perhaps not such a nice man after all.

The Riches is another of several successful dramas that the FX network has spear headed, including Dirt, Rescue Me, and Nip/Tuck. Eddie Izzard is outstanding as the family patriarch, leading the family astray down the straight and narrow. Each episode is a nice combination of humor and taut drama as each family member struggles to become what he or she despises most in this life, a buffer (ordinary person). It is also a struggle for them to escape their past, a past that is trying as hard as possible to find them.

Eddie and the children are flawless in their portrayals as smooth operating con artists. Strangely, it is Minnie Driver who is the weakest aspect of the show. Her performance often seems frenetic and varied, which is detracting. Similarly, while the children and the Wayne character seem to have carefully planned out back stories, the Dahlia character is just floating around, as she neither comes from anyplace nor is headed anywhere.

The box set includes 13 hour-long episodes on 4 DVDs. Each is presented in widescreen and in 5.1 surround sound. The special features include audio commentaries with Eddie Izzard and Dmitry Lipkin. Also includes is a gag reel, seven webisodes and a featurette titled FOX MOVIE CHANNEL presents CASTING SESSION and WORLD PREMIERE.

Season 2 of The Riches will return to FX on March 10, 2008.