User Reviews

It has to be tough to be the child of a living legend, especially in show business, but Mamie Gummer seems to be handling it quite well, thank you very much. The oldest daughter of multiple Oscar winner Meryl Streep, Gummer is making a name for herself in the family business. Like Emilio Estevez (son of Martin Sheen) and Angelina Jolie (daughter of Jon Voight), Gummer uses a family name (her father's last name) while establishing her own identity in film (and television). Like Jaden Smith (son of Will Smith), Gummer has joined her famous parent on screen while developing her acting skills. As a toddler, Gummer had a role in her mother's movie "Heartburn" (1987). As an adult, Gummer played a younger version of her mother's character in 2007's "Evening". (Gummer also had a brief scene in Streep's 2006 film "The Devil Wears Prada" but that scene was dropped in editing.) In 2015, it's the mother-daughter team playing mother and daughter in "Ricki and the Flash" (PG-13, 1:41) – and it's kind of hard to decide which actress did a better job.

Streep plays the title character, Ricki Rendazzo, an aging rock musician. The film opens with Ricki playing a set of musical covers as the singer in a local bar's house band. She obviously loves what she's doing, but it's short of where she hoped she'd be, having to hold another job as a supermarket cashier to make ends meet (and then, just barely). Then, not long into the story, her other identity beckons. Pete Brummel (Kevin Klein) repeatedly calls her cell phone until she finally answers. He's not calling Ricki. He's calling his ex-wife Linda to tell her that their daughter, Julie (Gummer) has been dumped by her cheating husband and dad is worried about her. It's an understatement. Although she can barely afford the ticket, Ricki-slash-Linda hops on a plane from L.A. back home to Indianapolis to be there for her daughter. It's the most she's done for any of her children in over 25 years.

As you might imagine, in her kids' eyes, this grand gesture isn't nearly enough to make up for leaving the family to pursue her rock and roll fantasy in the late 80s – and having precious little contact with them since. Ricki's appearance sends the very depressed and highly-medicated Julie into a rage and a family dinner which includes her two sons (Sebastian Stan and Ben Platt) goes only a little bit better. During her short visit, Ricki makes considerable progress pulling Linda out of her funk, but when Pete's current wife (Audra McDonald) returns from a visit with her sick father, it's clear that it's time for Ricki to leave. It's back to California, back to the grocery store, back to the bar stage and back to her lead guitarist pseudo-boyfriend, Greg (Rick Springfield). As Ricki tortures herself over the sorry state of her relationship with her children, Greg comforts her and encourages her not to quit trying to make amends. As badly as she wants to make this better, an opportunity that arises to do just that still makes for a difficult decision.

Considering the great pedigree of "Ricki and the Flash", the movie should have been better than it was. Oh, don't get me wrong – the acting is top notch, but other aspects of the film were disappointing. Streep does her usual outstanding work (not to take her for granted, but this is Meryl Streep were talking about here) – and there are award-worthy performances from Streep's fellow Oscar veteran (and former co-star) Kevin Kline, definitely from Ms. Gummer, from McDonald and even from Springfield. I expected more, however, from Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs") and Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody ("Juno").

Except for one great line late in the movie, the dialog is unremarkable and often the story feels forced. In one scene, Ricki points out the double-standard for male and female rock musicians who are absentee parents, but fails to acknowledge that Ricki could have still done had more of a relationship with her children than she did. A few references are made to Ricki being a conservative (even though she's a musician in California and her family back in the mid-West seems pretty liberal), but never gives any context for that characterization or even makes it at all pertinent to the story. The script also fails to explain anything about the circumstances surrounding Ricki's departure from the family or much about how her career developed over the ensuing quarter century.

Throughout the film, questionable writing and directing choices overplay many characters' disdain for Ricki to the point that the ultimate resolution of the story feels far-fetched. Even some of the camera work and editing seem unnecessarily melodramatic. The theme of family reconciliation is worthy and heart-warming, but for a story of an aging rocker trying to reconnect with family left behind, 2015's "Danny Collins" is a much better story and with equally good acting. The acting is the main reason to see "Ricki". The rest is just a small flash in the pan. "B-"

After reading mixed reviews for this movie and I make up my own mind - this is a delight, a relatively quiet film with some really good music. A story of a mother who went her own way and how she works to right a few things and make amends with her three children. Meryl Streep working with her own daughter was good to watch. Easy to see the genes working well together. Some of my favorite actors are in this movie - Kevin Kline is another actor that I would not miss a film of his, of course Meryl Streep - I love the variety of films she does and excels at. Audra McDonald - so good as the step-mother. This is a story of a mother who wants to be there for her daughter who is experiencing a heartbreak of her own., You get the impression that Rikki almost misses what she left. But she has a strong man by her side and has trouble letting herself acknowledging it. This is a good movie, a quiet family drama movie and as I said a movie with some great music. The last scenes make you want to get up an dance.

"Ricki and the Flash" (2015 release; 101 min.) brings the story of Ricki (played by Meryl Streep), an aging cover band singer-guitarist. As the movie opens, we find ourselves in the Tarzana (LA) neighborhood bar The Salt Well, where Ricki and her mates are bringing us Tom Petty's "American Girl". The next day we see her at work as a cashier in a local grocery store. Ricki gets a call from her ex (played by Kevin Kline) in Indianapolis, who informs her that their daughter Julie (played by Mamie Gummer) is depressed as a result of her failing marriage. Ricki immediately flies out to Indy to comfort her daughter. At this point we're not even 15 minutes into the movie, but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: the movie is directed by noted rock documentarian Jonathan Demme (Stop Making Sense; several Neil Young docs). Here he finds himself in familiar territory. The script is courtesy of Diabolo Cody (Juno, Young Adult). I have to tell you that I was surprised how utterly predictable the entire story line is in "Ricki and the Flash", I mean, not a single surprise or other deviation from a straight-forward path. I had expected more from Cody. Demme tries the best with the rather weak material. What should've been real tension between Streep's character and her kids, comes off pretty weak. The best line comes deep in the movie when her ex comments: "It's not the kids' job to love you, it's your job to love them!" So true. The one and only reason to watch this film is of course the timeless Meryl Streep, who easily looks about 15-20 years younger than her actual age (66, if you can believe it). Gummer (in the role of Julie) is Streep's real life daughter but you could easily mistake them for sisters. The movie's shooting was delayed so as to give Streep enough time to learn the guitar (Streep wouldn't have it any other way!). There are some nice side performances as well, none more so than Rick Springfield as her band made and romantic interest Greg. Kevin Kline as the ex is quite good too. The music plays a big role in the movie obviously, and in the end credits it is noted that the live music is performed by Rick and the Flash. Along the way, we get covers of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance, U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, and many others. Bottom line: "Ricki and the Flash" is an okay but ultimately uneven and forgettable movie that stars one of the best actresses this country has ever seen. There is a reason why this movie only has a 59 on Rotten Tomatoes...

The movie opened nationwide this weekend. Despite my misgivings for this film, I ended going to see this right away. The matinée screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati was very nicely attended actually. If you like movies with a heavy emphasis on bar music, or are simply a fan of Meryl Streep, I encourage you to check out "Ricki and the Flash", be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.

First thing: it was smart for Diablo Cody to write that Ricki (Meryl Streep, of course it's her) and the Flash (one of them Rick Springfield of all people, he's real good by the way) as bar musicians in this present day and age. Would they, or could they, be playing more legitimate venues? Possibly. But it's clear as day that Ricki (not her real name, but as she jokes she was 'born really as Ricki') is not leading some great revolution of music - she just likes playing her covers of classic rock songs (with some new stuff, she doesn't leave the 'young people' out of Lady Gaga and Pink).

It shows her and her group at a point in life that isn't the most ideal, but they can get by and play music in front of some kind of audience. This is her at her happiest and most in control, as in her day life, working as a cashier at a chain grocery store (always having to keep a smile on her face, as the condescending boss says), and in her personal life (her family hasn't spoken to her in a long time) it's messy to put it lightly, due to the thing of leaving away to go and follow her dreams.

Ricki is not a sympathetic character, and this follows along with Cody from some other protagonists she's had (remember Young Adult), but also for Jonathan Demme, who has his first (relatively wide-release) fiction feature in seven years, and his own previous film, Rachel Getting Married, was about another family f***-up who doesn't know how to get back in good graces, or even how to say the right things. I don't meant to make comparisons through this whole review, just to point out some interesting similarities, which end pretty much there aside from both movies also having weddings. In this case of 'Ricki', her daughter is in personal turmoil - Kevin Kline, father of her kids and ex, tells her that her husband left her for another woman and her marriage has effectively fallen apart - so she rushes to help her. How can she help her? In reality, Ricki's daughter tried to kill herself.

Some deep stuff dramatically speaking is going on in the movie. So why is this actually kind of, sort of, a 'light' movie, in a sense? I think Demme is smart to keep Cody's script this way, and to trust the instincts of the material; there's no easy way to help Julie (Streep's own daughter, Mamie Gummer) except to make sure she gets the therapy she needs and attention she needs. In one fell swoop Ricki does one and not the other, by taking her to get her hair and nails done and missing her therapy appointment. It's a fun little scene - uh oh, she's using the family credit card again, wop-wop - but there are consequences. And yet what's also good is that Cody not only isn't shy of going to those awkward, cringe-type of scenes, she embraces them. The obvious one is when the family goes out to a dinner, and Ricki's estranged sons (one engaged, which she was ignorant of, and one gay, also ignorant but not in a good way). But watch as Maureen, the new wife and mother for so many years to Ricki's kids, lays it down as to why she really has to leave: what can she REALLY do here for her daughter? That Ricki's just out of the shower adds to the, shall one say, nakedness of the emotional truth here.

Yes, there's some goofy stuff here, like the family finding some pot and smoking it and having some munchies and late-night guitar strumming, but Demme handles it without anything feeling too false or sitcomy. In the wrong hands this could be really disastrous, maudlin stuff. I think it's not a great film by any stretch, but the filmmakers are in sync with one another, and even find ways to make songs played on stage into dramatic beats; Streep and Springfield aren't just singing songs, they're acting and going through some emotional crises of their own, in small and big ways, all down to what it means to be a parent for one's child (love, as it turns out, is the thing a parent must do for their kids, not necessarily the other way around if it comes to it).

So while there are some serious issues dealt with here - depression and suicide, marriage and relationships, abandonment issues, and what love can be shown as - music and a light, mostly comic touch, helps to level out the material. Indeed the climax is done almost like one of those old-time rock n roll movies (Demme has in the past decades done his share of rock docs, and his knack for finding the right angle and cuts shows very well), and as the band plays on at a wedding people can either get up and get into the music, or sit down like schlubs and not get into it. It's a nice, uplifting way to reach a conclusion to this story, especially considering what Ricki's done and gone through, an otherwise flawed and damaged individual (and as usual given a nice turn via Streep), and that music is the one thing that a) she's really good at, far as this kind of music goes on this level, and b) the family can see the good in her when she plays it. It's sincere, but heartfelt stuff.

Meryl Streep, Rick Springfield, Audra McDonald and Kevin Klein are all worth watching in this predictable and sentimental movie musical. The problem really comes down to a mediocre script from Diablo Cody. I expected more from Academy Award winner Ms. Cody than this workmanlike and often tedious screenplay. The music is great and Streep is a super singer and along with Springfield, they turn in great performances. Audra McDonald is a gem who I hope to see more of in films in the future. The milieu of the sleazy bar in Tarzana where Streep and Springfield are the house band is fascinating. Too bad it all ends up to be nothing more than a tired wedding and predictable emotional resolution of a mother and her entitled children. Thank God for the music which director, Jonathan Demme, allows to play out at length - perhaps to fill in the time since the script was substandard. We all love Meryl Streep but I couldn't help but wonder, how did her daughter get that job.

The big surprise to me was Meryl Streep with a guitar. Turns out Meryl pulled this off really well, alongside Rick Springfield and Meryl also has a great voice for Rock & Roll. I've seen it in a lot of flicks where it was clearly evident that the actor or actress with a musical instrument was not actually playing, just by observing their hand movements with the musical instrument but in this movie Meryl appears to be playing, and rather well at that.

Corny, shallow plot line that's been played out on the Silver Screen so many times it isn't even funny but the novelty of this flick is that we get to see a terrific actress demonstrate yet another talent that proves her versatility as a professional actor. The movie's teaser poster suggests that and that is what we get. I reckon not a lot of actors can pull that off as smoothly as Meryl did in this flick.

Definitely worth a look while it is still in a theatre in your town.

How often have people said, it wasn't a great movie, but Meryl Streep is worth watching (I think of The Iron Lady, for example). In this one, a rock and roll singer (sort of reminded me of Bonnie Raitt) continues to ply her trade. In the past, she birthed three children, a girl and two boys, who have left her life. Her ex-husband calls her and says that the daughter is having serious trouble and it would be good for her to come to Indianapolis. She is totally broke and must use every available cent to get there and then live off her wealthy ex. He doesn't mind. But her daughter is hugely resentful of her, blaming her for her foibles. Played by Streep's actual daughter, she is a piece of work. Unfortunately, this slips into a maudlin, predictable presentation, much too contrived and simplistic. The final scenes, while a bit touching, are beyond the pale. But Streep again manages to make silk purses out of sow's ears.

Potentially delicious teaming of director Jonathan Demme and screenwriter Diablo Cody with star Meryl Streep results in a surprising washout. Middle-aged bar band singer takes time off from her day-job as a cashier in southern California and returns to Indianapolis and the (now embittered) family she left behind for rock 'n roll success. Cody's writing is so facetious and 'cute' (always with a wink to the audience) that her script--already heavy with amateurish exposition--defeats the cast early on; before we can even adjust to the characters, they've been shaped by their clothes and their quips. Demme is eager to please, but his timing is perpetually off. Scenes that should work don't, while other sequences (such as a family reunion dinner that turns ugly) ramble on without a point. Ricki's family all take turns standing on a soapbox, blowing off steam. Cody can't introduce anyone to us without there being an agenda, and Demme underlines her every superficial point with close-ups that don't reveal anything (reality TV has more convincing confrontations than what we get here). Eternally misjudged and misshapen. We have no idea what Ricki has gone through in her career, what triumphs she may have had; Cody is too intent on giving us Streep as a Republican rocker (another clothesline to string conflicts on), backed by a troupe of musicians who are only there to hug her. The actress is clearly better than her material and fakes her way through. *1/2 from ****

"Sometimes a girl just needs her mother." Ricki (Streep) is a full time rock star and part time mom. When she is called home to help her daughter Julie (Gummer) who is going through a divorce everyone remembers why she is only a part time mother. All of the tenseness from the past come back up between her and all of her kids and she starts to wonder if she made the right choice with her life. Meryl Streep is a great actress, everyone knows this. The thing that is borderline annoying is that besides being a great actress she can sing, play guitar and pull off playing an aging rock star as perfect as playing a Prime Minister with dementia. As far as the movie goes I did like it but it's nothing super amazing. This movie is written by the same writer of Juno and is very much that style of a movie. Dysfunctional family problems that come off as real and not forced. This is a movie worth watching, but a hard one to review. There is a lot of real, believable conversations in this and the movie keeps you interested and watching the entire time. Overall, nothing that will win any awards but a good and fun lighter movie that is worth watching. I give this a B.

"Ricki and the Flash" opens with Meryl Streep, boasting acid-washed articles of clothing that looks like it was stuffed away in a 1970's time capsule, half-braided hair, complete with rings, bracelets, and accessorized trinkets all over her body, belting out "American Girl" by Tom Petty. If this doesn't make her one of Hollywood's finest character/method actresses, I don't know what does.

Streep plays Linda "Ricki" Rendazzo, the frontrunner of a band known as "Ricki and the Flash" that plays largely at dive bars and seedy nightclubs. Linda, in the meantime, slaves away at a supermarket job, bossed around by a manager half her age, making paltry wages whilst being estranged from her immediate family. One day, her ex-husband Pete (Kevin Kline) calls her up to inform her that their daughter Julie (Mamie Gummer) is going through a messy divorce after discovering her husband cheating on her. Julie, who has already attempted suicide and since ceased showering and eating, lives with Pete and, upon seeing her mother for the first time in years, is understandably disgusted and appalled that she now wants to play mother. Linda also learns that her youngest son is planning on marrying and subsequently not inviting her to the wedding. Trying to balance out this newfound mess and work things out with her present beau Greg (rock and roll star Rick Springfield), Linda tries to be a mother to those who always needed her and somebody people won't cringe at the thought of putting their faith into as a person.

"Ricki and the Flash" bears a seriously tragic angle from a character perspective, given the fact that while Ricki was an absent mother, chasing rock star glory and fame, she wound up being a cover band in diver bars, the result of a failed marriage, and the bane of her children's existence. Now, Ricki has hit middle age hard and, reflecting on her life and career, she has little to show for it other than a mess of circumstances and success that was never fully realized.

Screenwriter Diablo Cody has a talent for making the most unattractive characters attractive in a way that's not condescending like an Adam Sandler film, yet not depressingly bleak like a Lars von Trier film. Cody is also unique because her films don't focus on characters wallowing in pity and self-loathing, but rather, actively trying to better themselves or making the best out of a bad situation. The latter is what Linda largely spends the majority of "Ricki and the Flash" doing. Instead of wallowing, she's being active in trying to be the mother that she never was to her children.

Streep does some very strong work here, being a captivating presence all throughout the film and remaining an actress who can be trusted with any role in terms of delivering quality. It also helps that Cody knows her strong suits, which are complex characters with a lot of emotions yet no really clear-cut idea of how to express such emotions. The end result, however, is a duo that I never envisioned would work together, yet alone work so well together.

As far as family drama goes, "Ricki and the Flash" finds itself positioned between the lesser "This is Where I Leave You" and the superior "August: Osage County." It's far more dramatic than I ever anticipated, not sacrificing rich, emotional significance for cheap comic ploys or mawkishness. However, there's a theatrical element to the film that undermines its emotions, particularly at the end of the film. Yet "Ricki and the Flash" exhibits a lot of undertones not routinely showcases by the mainstream, which make it such a commendable project, especially with a great actress at the forefront.

I have seen every movie made by Meryl Streep and I think she is a GREAT movie actress. Having said that, this movie is vile! The only positive thing that can be said is that the other actors did not embarrass themselves like she did. Not for one second did I buy her as Ricki. It is the only sub-par performance of her career. Now the script and dialog - imagine a soap opera from the fifties. PLot - from the silent era in subtlety. Direction - the wedding scene is flat out incompetent in that not a single character reaction rings true. Now, Meryl's voice is not unpleasant, nor is it any good. For some reason, she tortures the audience with mediocre performance after mediocre performance for what felt like hours. By the way, I really hated this movie

My wife and I (both Baby Boomers) went to see this movie on a Sunday afternoon in August, 2015. The audience consisted of mostly women who were older than the two of us. The movie started off good enough...as we both were enjoying the music in the opening scene/s involving the band. We have seen Rick Springfield in concert, by the way, and we both are big fans of his.

The scene at dinner, however, with all the people arguing and hating each other literally drove us out of the theater. This is a comedy ?? Who wants to see this kind of hatred and bickering on the big screen? Not funny at all for us, so we left and I could not wait to write this review.

As hard as I've tried, I just can't get on the Diablo Cody bandwagon. Yes, I saw Juno and Young Adult, both movies that I thought had great concepts and stories hindered by clunky screenplays. Cody's writing hints at much of what people complain about millennials: narcissistic, overly snarky, and the thought that being a special snowflake makes up for being a miserable, unlikable human being. Ricki and the Flash follows this formula once again.

Sorry, but if you're a mother and you just ditch your family to selfishly "follow your dream", the family shouldn't just accept you back like it's no big deal. I just couldn't get past that. The story felt more like a Disney Channel Movie than anything else.

I like Meryl Streep and it was kind of funny seeing her as a rockstar, but that was about the only good thing going for it. Her performance alone made up for an otherwise weak screenplay and generic story.

Hollywood badly needs more female writers and directors, but Cody's flaws as a writer keep showing up movie after movie. She needs a co- writer or script doctor to help polish up the unrealistic dialogue, characters that appear more like cartoon characters than human beings, and humor that is more eye rolling than gut busting.

I think I'll skip her next film, like I should have skipped this one.

So Meryl Streep plays a rock singer who had one album that didn't seem to go anywhere and is reduced to playing at a bar for 8 years in this movie. She then finds out her daughter (Mamie Gummer, Meryl's actual offspring) is splitting from her hubby from Kevin Kline, who Ms. Streep was previously married to. There's more but I'll just now say that I enjoyed the musical performances especially "Drift Away". And Rick Springfield, whose song "Jessie's Girl" seems to be the only one of his hits on oldies radio nowadays, is also good as Ms. Streep's bandmate/current boyfriend. Also it was a nice surprise to see Charlotte Rae, who to me is always Mrs. Garrett on "Diff'rent Strokes" and "The Facts of Life", as the mother of Kline. Perhaps not a great film from director Jonathan Demme or screenwriter Diablo Cody, but Ricki and the Flash has its moments.

This may be the rock film of the year. Meryl Streep plays an aging supermarket cashier who spends her evenings playing Stones and U2 music in a club for a faithful audience of a few tens of people, many of them her age if not older. She has a history. She left her family, three kids, a comfortable life as the wife of a corporate executive about 25-30 years ago in order to follow her dream. Playing music. She does play music, but never could make a living out of it. She actually hardly makes ends. Then, the past calls. Her daughter goes through a divorce, tries to commit suicide. She is called on mother duty. She, who left mothership to fulfill a dream that never happened.

The film worked for me on several levels. Music is part of the life of the characters and there is good music in this film, and some of the best scenes are the ones filmed in the music club. Whoever played music or just loves music will immediately relate to the characters that play on stage and those who sit in the audience, vibrate at the sounds they like and are stoned while tunes that they do not like are played, jump and dance when the right music is played. To a certain extend the film is about the differences between the world of passion and the world of conventions and routine. But then it's also a film about the relation between following individual happiness and sharing time and life with the family. Ricki in this film follows her dream and leaves everything behind. She could have been the happy rich wife of a corporate executive and live in a luxurious cottage in a privately guarded exclusive area, but chose a different path. This path practically failed, success did not come, she hardly meets ends, and never did a second disk. The highest price however is the broken relation with her children who grew to call another woman 'mother' and did not even bother to invite her to their weddings. She has just one thing to balance all these losses - her music. Will this be enough? Need I say again that Meryl Streep is phenomenal? It seems nowadays that any role she plays is up to the Academy Awards nominations level, and this one is no exception. She also sings, and she also brings to screen the insecurity, the age and the dilemmas of the character. Mamie Gummer, Streep's daughter in life is also her daughter on screen, and her creation is remarkable. It's not easy to share screen with your own mother, and even less when the mother is Meryl Streep with all her charisma - yet Gummer's Julie is alive and real, fighting her personal daemons and breaking gradually the wall of mis-communication between the two. Rick Springfield does the fine expected role especially when on stage and all the rockers club numbers are credible and emotional. One can see that director Jonathan Demme (of Philadelphia fame) loves music and is also well exercised in documentary. He made a film which looks a little conventional and melodramatic in it's family drama part, but comes to life and is at best when it deals with music. Probably the best rock film of the year.

A musician (Meryl Streep) who gave up everything for her dream of rock-and-roll stardom returns home, looking to make things right with her family.

This film ended up on my to-see list simply because I wanted to pay tribute to Jonathan Demme. This is not one of his better films, and despite what the DVD cover says, this is not one of Streep's best films, either. Heck, it is not even Diablo Cody's best work. It is middling on all counts, an average plot fleshed out with musical numbers.

In more ways than one, this is sort of like Demme's "Rachel Getting Married". So, if you liked that, maybe you will like this. I may have enjoyed this one marginally more simply because it doesn't have Anne Hathaway. But both have damaged characters and a wedding as a central scene.

Ricki and the Flash sometimes dabbles in the corny, setting aside reality for easy fixes in its complex relationships. Otherwise, this family dramedy about loving others for who they are really works. Ricki is a great character who doesn't quite fit any one character cliché, riding the lines of good and bad like we all tend to do. The awkwardness is palpable, the humor is natural, the dialogue is engagingly overlapping and the performances are strong.

Revering the director and cast, as well as admiring the screenwriter of "Juno," I was shocked and pained by "Ricki and the Flash." A few gems have successfully combining music and drama without being a musical, especially "Once." Not this one.

"Ricki" should be showcased in a film school course called "Movies Gone Wrong." (If you are interested in this phenomenon, read the classic article by Pauline Kael about her witnessing the process of the making of "The Group.")

The dissection of this disappointing work starts with the script. The director should have either sent it back for rewrites or demanded a script doctor. Someone needed to rescue its relentlessly shapeless scenes, meandering plot lines, unnecessary throw-in details, half-conceived characters and contrived conflicts. This combination inevitably leads to a conclusion full of cheap sentimentality.

In more detail, one must next focus on the characters and their arcs. We'll stick with the center of the movie, Ricki, an aging rocker who plays with passion in a bar band. She had long ago abandoned her role as a mother and wife to pursue her singular musical goals. The movie and actress depicts her as a self-centered, thin-skinned, unapologetic, non-introspective mess. Who cares about someone who fails to demonstrates any kind of consistent attachment with her children? The filmmakers' choice is a dead end leading to a no-coming-back dramatic cliff.

They could have turned the character into a pioneer, one whose singular artistic drive might be off-putting, but whose uncompromising spirit inspires her children. In her arc, she re-balances her life, finds some humility, accepts responsibility for her neglect through action, but refuses to give up on her passion. She becomes a good enough mother, which is good enough for children. Her sons and daughter might settle for a parent who is flawed, but lovable and forgivable.

Instead, the script makes aging rocker Ricki insinuate herself into her ex's life and their shared children, a family that has been basically good enough with the usual dramas. Even if you introduce a severely depressed daughter, played by Mamie Gummer, there's no parallel between the mother's self-centered abandonment and her daughter's recoiling from a short-lived, failed marriage. Then (SPOILER ALERT, but one that's not that big0, it makes the recently bankrupt Ricki talk this depressed daughter into skipping her therapy session and getting indulged at a spa. It becomes a plot turning point, but it's based on a phony conflict. Why not see the therapist together, let the sparks fly, then heal their wounds with a spa treatment. Instead the next scene shows the mother and step-mother arguing over spa treatment versus therapy and uses it as a pretense to create a war between two strong-willed women. It results in drama reduced to a lifeless spat.

In the end, I found myself squirming over this self-indulgent movie, where the cast seems to be having much more fun than the audience, a cast hamstrung into depicting honest feeling in a phony, sentimentally contrived drama. We're left at the end watching essentially music videos by talented musicians that have no emotional resonance. It can make you turn your head away, embarrassed for this extremely talented A-list cast and crew.

Ricki Rendazzo (Meryl Streep) plays covers with boyfriend Greg (Rick Springfield) and her band the Flash at the local band. She had left her family years ago to chase her dreams in California. She gets a call from her ex-husband Pete (Kevin Kline). Their daughter Julie (Mamie Gummer) is suicidal after getting divorced from her cheating husband. She tries to work out their absent relationships.

Meryl Streep is the greatest. Mamie Gummer working with her mom has never been better. Streep's scene with the new wife Maureen is exceptional. It takes the movie to another level. Then the movie stumbles by going back to California. It sputters as the audience tries to care about her relationship with Greg. The compelling family relationships are sidelined and it takes forever to return. It would have been a better move to get Greg out to visit the family so that there wouldn't be such a break. It's good that Streep is able to keep the movie going all the way to the end.

Firstly, I really wanted to like this movie. It's Meryl Streep. She can act in anything, play anyone, right? Wrong. As much as I tried, I just couldn't buy Meryl as "Ricki" the guitar playing rock 'n roll lead singer of the "Flash." Most UNconvincing role she's played. Having to sit through each and everyone of her songs annoyed me to no end. I'm sorry to say this, but her singing voice was terrible. I know she also sang in "Into The Woods" but at least she was convincing as a witch in that film. Very disappointed that director Jonathan Demme decided to film each Meryl song through its entirety. Just didn't work for me. 2 out of 10.

Ricki(Meryl Streep) a 60 something year old former rocker, who plays gigs at nights, and is a big hit at the bar she plays at, but by day she works as a cashier at a supermarket. But one day Ricki gets a call from her ex husband(Kevin Kline) saying there daughter Julie(Mamie Gummer, Streep's real life daughter) is in midst of a mental breakdown after her marriage fell apart. Ricki flies down in hopes that she can help. But will be able to reconnect with the family she abandoned?

Meryl Streep is good here, giving a good comedic/dramatic performance, and I really liked her musical talent also, I know she has showed it other films, but still always a joy. And she and Kevin Kline have such great chemistry. It was cool seeing Mamie Gummer acting with her mother, she proves that she is every bit as talented in acting. I hope she will fall into her own, and not being thought of as Meryl Streep's daughter. Rick Springfield is great as Streep's guitarist boyfriend. A great light on it's feet film.

I'm trying to comprehend how such a milquetoast excuse for a theatrical release film came into existence. I imagine there was some type of meeting that went like this.

Exec: The Meryl wants to do a role where she plays rock guitar, and Mamie is only allowed to be in A-LIST MOVIES WITH A-LIST PEOPLE. Round up whatever Oscar winners you can find who need a quick couple of million.

... A bit later

Exec: Diablo, HIIIII! Write something.

Diablo Cody: Um, like what?

Exec: Oh, it doesn't matter. Just string together English words that follow each other. Oh, oh, I know. Make it about a mother daughter relationship because then it will be a bit like Postcards from the Edge - but now we have real life mother and daughter actors available. And make Mamie's hair be all messy at the beginning, because we think she can manage to act that.

Jonathan Demme: What do you want me to do?

Exec: Well, maybe tell someone to turn on the camera at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day shout CUT - do whatever you like in between.

OK, so this wasn't the most egregious example I can think of where a movie was made apparently as a paid vacation for the madly-remunerated ATLs while the audience, spending their own hard earned money had zero amount of fun (A Good Year, The American, Last Vegas etc.), but it's up there in the same league.

Feeble.

There is nothing in this world that Meryl can't do. In her variegated film roles, she has played almost everything. She has gone grim to witty, to fun, to casual. Every cup of tea is hers. Even at the age of 66 she is so full of energy and she doesn't fail to deliver. She keeps experimenting with new personas and always ends up creating a new character altogether in every flick she does.

We see another side of her in Ricki and the Flash. She plays a washed-up wannabe rockstar who fails to make it big but apparently walks out on her family. Pete played by Kevin Kline calls her to his home to check on her daughter (real-life too) Mamie Gummer who was going through a hard time. This becomes Ricki's chance to make amends with her children, and at the same time, buff up and fix things with her current love affair band member Greg played by none other than Rick Springfield himself. The drama is brilliantly helmed by Jonathan Demme, although the tone of the drama is deliberately kept jovial. This makes the melodrama look mediocre. I just wished things to heat up and the mother and daughter bits to blow out of proportion like August: Osage County. But it did not.

But boy can she sing! Meryl performs many different songs in the movie and all her versions are downright brilliant. The song 'Cold One' which she performs cozily sitting on a sofa is absolutely marvelous.

There is one thing terribly wrong with the movie though - its editing. There are full songs that have been shoehorned into the flick that makes the movie a tad long. Also, the screenplay doesn't have much in its basket. The movie also craves for profundity which gets lost owing to the comical theme of the flick.

Apart from that the movie works like a charm, and is one hell of a family flick, which I am sure your parents would love too.