''Viper Club'' is a 2018 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Maryam Keshavarz Maryam Keshavarz (), is an American filmmaker, of Iranian descent. She is best known for her 2011 film ''Circumstance (2011 film), Circumstance'' distributed by Participant Media and Roadside Attractions, which won the Audience Award at Sundance ...

and starring

Susan Sarandon Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actor. With a career spanning over five decades, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to ...

. The film was produced by

YouTube Premium YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service offered by the American video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals ...

in association with CounterNarrative and MaraKesh Films and held its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

on September 10, 2018. The film was released theatrically in the United States on October 26, 2018.

Premise

''Viper Club'' follows "a veteran emergency room nurse secretly struggling to free her grown son, a journalist, from capture by a terrorist group. After running into roadblocks with government agencies, she discovers a clandestine community of journalists and advocates who might be able to help her."

Cast

as Helen *

Matt Bomer Matthew Staton Bomer ( ; born October 11, 1977) is an American actor. His works have earned him accolades including a Golden Globe Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award, in addition to nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. Bomer m ...

as Sam *

Lola Kirke Lola Kirke (born September 27, 1990) is an American actress, singer and author. She was born in London and raised in New York City. She starred in the 2015 film '' Mistress America'' and the Amazon Studios television series '' Mozart in the Jun ...

as Amy *

Julian Morris Julian David Morris (born 13 January 1983) is an English actor. After appearing in the British television series '' The Knock'' (1996) and ''Fish'' (2000) during his teenage years, he had his first starring role in the American slasher film '' C ...

as Andy *

Sheila Vand Sheila Vand is an American actress and performance artist. She is known for her role in Ben Affleck's 2012 Oscar-winning film ''Argo''. Vand made her Broadway debut alongside Robin Williams in 2011 in the Pulitzer-nominated '' Bengal Tiger at th ...

as Sheila *

Adepero Oduye Adepero Oduye ( ) is an American actress, director, singer, and writer. She is known for '' Pariah'' (2011), '' 12 Years a Slave'' (2013), '' The Big Short'' (2015), and ''Widows'' (2018). Life and career Adepero Oduye was born in Brooklyn, New ...

as Keisha *

Edie Falco Edith Falco (born July 5, 1963) is an American actress. A prominent figure in American television, she is known for her roles both on stage and screen and has received numerous accolades including four Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe A ...

as Charlotte * Paul Eenhoorn as Jim

Production

On March 21, 2018, it was announced that

YouTube Red YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service offered by the American video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals ...

had just finished production on a film, then-titled ''Vulture Club'', directed by

. The film was written by Keshavarz alongside Jonathan Mastro and executive produced by Anna Gerb,

Neal Dodson Neal Dodson (born May 17, 1978) is an American film producer. His producer credits include the Academy Award-nominated ''Margin Call'', the Golden Globe Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated '' All Is Lost'' starring Robert Redford, the comedy ...

, and

J. C. Chandor Jeffrey McDonald J. C. Chandor (; born November 24, 1973) is an American filmmaker, best known for writing and directing the critically acclaimed films ''Margin Call'' (2011), ''All Is Lost'' (2013), and ''A Most Violent Year'' (2014). His acco ...

. Cast members were set to include

, and

Release

The film was distributed by

Roadside Attractions Roadside Attractions, LLC is an American independent production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d'Arbeloff. Lionsgate Films Lionsgate Films (spelled as Lions ...

and released on October 26, 2018. Following its theatrical run, the film was made available for streaming on

. On September 10, 2018, the film held its world premiere at the

as a featured selection in the "Special Presentations" series of films. That same day, the official trailer for the film was released.

Controversy

After attending the premiere of the film in Toronto, Diane Foley, the mother of slain journalist James Foley, expressed criticism of the film. Although the production team contacted and spoke to Foley and the parents of other kidnapped journalists during the production process, she felt the plot of the film was inappropriate and misleading from what she said were events from her and her late son's lives. Although the screenplay was researched and written before production commenced, Foley had publicly shared details about the process of locating and negotiating for the release of her son. Foley thinks that although director Maryam Keshavarz claims to have made a fictional work, she used and unfairly manipulated details of her personal life to produce a dramatic story.

Reception

The film was met with a mixed to negative response from critics upon its premiere. On the review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds approval rating with an average rating of based on reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Viper Club'' benefits from Susan Sarandon's committed lead performance, but a treacly script robs this geopolitical drama of any bite."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 57 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* {{YouTube Premium films and documentaries 2018 films American drama films YouTube Premium films Films shot in New York City 2010s English-language films 2010s American films Films scored by Gingger Shankar