Video Essay: Richie Rich and the Search for Friends in Cinema

Kentucker Audley continues his series of transformative video essays by examining another classic '90s film, this time starring Macaulay Culkin.

Macaulay Culkin was one of the cutest kids in the world, but also he was a great actor. In this movie Richie Rich, he plays a lonely kid who has everything but all he wants is friends, and for his parents to be alive. It’s a great film about searching for friends and then showing them how cool your house is and letting them ride your personal roller coaster. Rob Reiner was the director and he did a fantastic job putting fun things in the movie, like the Kidapult, the Smell Master and bags of manure. Will Richie Rich find friends? You can watch the whole movie or I tell you in this video essay too. Enjoy!

Kentucker Audley is a filmmaker, film programmer, actor and Movies hat salesman. His latest film, Strawberry Mansion (co-directed with Albert Birney), premiered at Sundance 2021. His previous directorial effort, Sylvio (also co-directed with Albert Birney), debuted at SXSW and was named one of the Best 10 Movies of The Year by The New Yorker. As an actor, he’s starred in indie films such as Christmas, Again and Sun Don’t Shine. He also founded NoBudge and Movies Brand.