Riley's First Date?


Riley's First Date? is a 2015 animated romantic comedy short film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It was written and directed by Josh Cooley. The short premiered on August 14, 2015, at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, and was included in the October 13 Digital HD release of Inside Out, as well as the November 3 Blu-ray release. Riley's First Date? follows the events of Inside Out and involves Riley's parents and their emotions, suspecting that Riley is going out on a date with a boy named Jordan.

Plot

Riley, now 12, is relaxing with her parents at home when a school friend, a boy named Jordan, shows up to go skating with her and her friends. Riley's parents suspect their daughter is going out on a date, and their emotions react hysterically to this assumption. Riley's mother attempts to get the information out of her by sounding cool and using slang terms that kids her age would use, much to Riley's chagrin.
Meanwhile, Riley's father tries to intimidate and interrogate Jordan. His patience wanes with Jordan's absentmindedness, which he believe is backtalk, and he is just about ready to kick Jordan out of the house when Jordan mentions he is the bass player in a band. Riley's father recalls his own memories of being in a band as lead guitarist, and the two begin to bond over their shared love of AC/DC. Riley comes downstairs to see her father and Jordan jamming out to AC/DC's "Back in Black", knocking over the table and chairs in the process.
An embarrassed Riley quickly rushes Jordan out the door as her parents watch, concluding that Jordan is a "good kid" and feeling nostalgic about their own love.
Riley's parents share a kiss, which causes Riley's dad's emotional center to erupt in excitement. They celebrate once again to AC/DC's "Back in Black." After the credits, we again see things from inside Riley's mother's head, as she enjoys the kiss to the music of Berlin's "Take My Breath Away". After a moment, she breaks off the kiss, and Riley's father goes to fix the table he knocked over.

Voice cast

During the final year of Inside Outs production, Pixar got together to discuss a short based on the film. According to Josh Cooley, "We had so much fun with the boy at the end of the movie that I wanted to put them in a situation and see what would happen there. I treated Riley's First Date? as if you were just watching more of Inside Out."
Given most of Pixar's crew are fathers with daughters, and that Inside Out editor, Kevin Nolting, stated at the meeting that "Just wait until the first boy shows up", the plot was then developed into how Riley's parents would react to the boy, now named Jordan.
Cooley started off from a personal anecdote, as the first time he met his father-in-law: "he was a little standoffish" until Cooley told he was in a band, and both started to connect as the father-in-law played drums. Jordan's emotional immaturity was played for comedy and also in how "boys are behind. It felt right to have him be catching up, to have his mind act like a kid does."
Riley's First Date? was done in about ten months, employing the same character models and scenery from the feature, to the point the same camera shot is used in the take where Riley's mother's head is visited.
While exploring various song choices, the producers eventually settled on AC/DC, which Cooley considered a band that connected generations: "I went to their concert and there was a seven-year-old in front of me and an eighty-year-old behind me".

Reception

CineMagazine rated the short 4 stars.