Bill Murray Plays a Hitman Out for Payback in Trailer for Dark Crime Comedy "Riff Raff" with Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, and Pete Davidson

Bill Murray stars as a veteran hitman alongside Pete Davidson, Jennifer Coolidge, and Ed Harris in this new darkly comedic crime thriller.

Those of us raised on Bill Murray's comedies always knew there was a slight darkness and somewhat menacing edge just beneath his sly, acerbic humor. Sometimes, he would lean into those attributes in roles like Frank Milo from Mad Dog and Glory, where he played a jealous mobster with a mean streak. Well, it's been a little more than thirty years since Bill Murray portrayed a bad guy in Mad Dog and Glory, so maybe it's time to see him in a similar role again.

Riff Raff, a new dark crime comedy, provides Murray with such an opportunity as he takes on the character of "Leftie," a notorious mob-connected hitman known for always getting the job done. After a life of taking out various types of garbage, so to speak, Leftie is now a weary, matter-of-fact hatchet man who kills with such ease that it has become routine to him.

We see this played out in the film's newly released trailer, where the opening scene shows Murray's hitman character, Leftie, noticing that his name was spoken out loud while entering a local liquor store. His partner, Lonnie, who we can presume is a less experienced mob enforcer played by former SNL comedian Pete Davidson, accidentally slips Leftie's name where the store clerk can hear it. In turn, Leftie slips out his partner's name, Lonnie, as a reaction. Obviously, this is a bad situation for the clerk, as he's now been put on the chopping block as a victim of circumstance.

"You catch our names by any chance?" Leftie asks the clerk. He quickly replies, "Yeah, he called you Leftie and you called Lonnie."

Well, he just sealed his fate. We then see Murray's Leftie cock the hammer back on his pistol, before a gunshot is heard and the screen fades to black. When the screen fades back up, we see Leftie looking a little remorseful as he admits, "Well, I overreacted."

To reiterate, Riff Raff is a new dark crime comedy that also stars Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Lewis Pullman, Gabrielle Union, Miles J. Harvey, and Emanuela Postacchini.

In the film, Coolidge and Harris play a married couple with mob ties whose son (Pullman) killed Leftie's son in a bar fight some time ago. Now, with a grandchild on the way, Coolidge and Harris decide to make a run for it, bringing their son and his pregnant girlfriend (Emanuela Postacchini) with them. The family plans to hide out in what they believe is a vacant lake house, only to be shocked when they discover another family already living there, played by Gabrielle Union and Miles J. Harvey. Now, everyone is in grave danger as Leftie and his idiot partner Lonnie are on their way.

The film is directed by Dito Montiel, a former New York punk rocker who grew up during the hardcore punk scene of the 1980s. He later wrote about his experiences in his 2003 memoir, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, which he adapted into his 2006 feature film debut of the same name. The film featured a young Shia LaBeouf, a young Channing Tatum, Chazz Palminteri, and pre-MCU Robert Downey Jr. Montiel has been making movies ever since, primarily indie crime dramas and thrillers, though his last feature, 2017's The Clapper, was a satire starring Ed Helms as a professional audience member who "claps" at fake live-taping infomercial shows.

Riff Raff is written by John Pollono, a working actor and playwright who had a bit of success with his off-Broadway 2011 play Small Engine Repair, where Jon Bernthal acted in the original L.A. production. Pollono adapted Small Engine Repair into a 2021 feature film where Bernthal reprised his role.

Riff Raff is slated for a theatrical release starting on February 28th. Watch the trailer, above.