James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart form a bond in warm yet far-fetched 'Welcome to the Rileys'

Welcome to Simple Living Media’s  Home for the Holidays!  We’ve got 25 giveaways across the entire network this week to give you plenty of chances to win a great gift, just in time for the holidays.Remember that secret gift for Tate I mentioned in my vlog last Friday? Well, today you get to find out what it is:
Yep, today I’m giving away a multi-level, solid wood dollhouse from Melissa & Doug. I absolutely cannot wait to give it to my almost-six-year-old girl, who’ll most definitely go nuts over this. This will be her main Christmas gift this year!Valued at $150, this dollhouse is move-in ready (ha!) and comes with 19 pieces of moveable furniture.Perfect for hours of open-ended play for kids of many ages.Learn more about this little sweet dollhouse and how to win it.I was thrilled to learn that this dollhouse on its way was almost two feet tall and two feet wide — so I was surprised upon arrival when the box didn’t really seem all that big. Ah. Assembly required. Time to get out the tools.
Read More: James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart form a bond in warm yet far-fetched 'Welcome to the Rileys'

James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart form a bond in warm yet far-fetched 'Welcome to the Rileys'

James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart form a bond in warm yet far-fetched 'Welcome to the Rileys'

On screen, James Gandolfini has become the big, beefy Buddha of unresolved internal conflict and quiet rage.
He developed the persona on "The Sopranos" and gives us a law-abiding version in "Welcome to the Rileys" as Doug, a hardware salesman from Indianapolis who uses a sales convention in New Orleans to take a break from his wife (Melissa Leo) and his stifling home, where the couple grieves messily and separately over the death of their teenage daughter.In the big N.O., he meets a teen dancer/hooker named Mallory (Kristen Stewart), and the two develop the sort of dramatically symmetrical relationship common to screenwriting workshops, if not real life.Doug's got an aching hole in his life where his daughter should be, and Mallory is a young runaway, vulnerable and alone. Soon, Doug is paying rent to stay at her place, functioning as a live-in dad.I know, this sounds like the Sundance premise from hell, and you've also got Gandolfini's accent to deal with - his character's from Indianapolis, and for some reason the actor attempts a southern drawl (it fails).Yet for all of the movie's conceptual and technical shortcomings, it is sometimes unexpectedly touching. There's something about Doug's approach to Mallory that makes emotional sense. He doesn't try to change her, rescue her, any of that (though he does start docking her $1 for every f-bomb, which adds up). He just wants to improve her reckless life around the edges, get her bathroom running, fix the electric, etc.

Read more: James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart form a bond in warm yet far-fetched 'Welcome to the Rileys'

James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart form a bond in warm yet far-fetched 'Welcome to the Rileys'