Movie Reviews

Ricki And The Flash
submitted by
Thomas
 on
Wednesday, February 17, 2016 - 14:06
4.0
Directed by: 

When a movie starts with a band playing Tom Petty’s “American Girl”, it can’t be all bad, right? The band in question is called Ricki And The Flash and is fronted by Ricki  aka Linda Brummel (Meryl Streep), who gave up her old life in order to pursue her rock ‘n roll dreams. That didn’t turn out quite the way she pictured it, unless her dreams included hooking up with her lead guitarist Greg (Rick Springfield) while working as a cashier by day and playing in the same old watering hole since 2008 at night

Her old life catches up with her when she receives a phone from her estranged husband Pete (Kevin Kline) who informs her that their daughter Julie (Streep’s daughter Mamie Gummer) had a breakdown after her husband left her. So she goes home to Indianapolis where she stays with Pete and his new wife Maureen. Needless to say she isn’t exactly welcomed back with open arms by either Pete, Maureen, Julie or her two sons, Josh and Adam and has her work cut out for her. Will it all work out in the end? Will she be back in her family’s good graces? Gosh, the tension!

Anybody seen Danny Collins? Well, this is basically the same movie except that Meryl Streep takes the lead instead of Al Pacino. Director Jonathan Demme runs with a script provided by Diablo Cody and Streep definitely seems to have a good time sharing some screen time with her daughter, but Ricki And The Flash is not a great movie. It’s enjoyable at best, predictable as hell and pretty much the only thing you will remember about it is the über-cheesy and toe-curling ending.