It should come as no surprise to anyone that Meryl Streep has a knack for learning accents, chameleon embodying the characters she plays on film and can sing as she demonstrated in her last movie Disney’s Into the Woods.
In Ricki and the Flash, Meryl Streep takes on a whole new gig as Ricki Rendazzo, a guitar heroine who made a world of mistakes as she followed her dreams of rock-and-roll stardom.
Streep & Springfield (Ricki & Greg) perform with the Flash at the Salt Well.
Returning home, Ricki gets a shot at redemption and a chance to make things right as she faces the music with her family. Streep stars opposite her real-life daughter Mamie Gummer; Rick Springfield, portraying one of the musicians in her back up band, The Flash member and her love interest, Kevin Kline as Ricki’s ex-husband; and Audra McDonald as Kline’s new wife.
From the opening chords of Ricki singing Tom Petty’s American Girl, you are drawn into her world as a hard-rocking lead singer of the bar band, The Flash. But make no mistake this is not a dramedy. Ricki has left her three kids and husband years ago to pursue her dream of being rock star. But her “job” as the lead singer of the Flash is not all it’s cut out to be which is made quite clear from her day job as a clerk in a Whole Foods like supermarket.
As we switch from her life in Los Angeles, we are thrown into her former life in middle America Indiana. Going to her ex-husband and wife’s beautiful home in a gated community, you are dragged into the life she escaped to pursue her dreams.
Her reason for having to go back is that her daughter’s cheating husband asked for a divorce lunging her into a depression that the father can not deal with. From the daughter’s grand entrance vocally asking why she is there is.
One of the best scenes in the movie is the reconciliation dinner at what I can imagine is the best restaurant in town. The seething resentment and comments are understandable. Much of the rest of the movie are interactions between Ricki and her daughter as she tries to break her out of her depression along choice seems with her husband and his wife.
It goes without saying that a major character in the movie is the music that Ricki and the Flash playing. While it’s a lot of fun to hear the music of this cover band, I would have liked that there were fewer songs or shorter songs to learn more about the family dynamics.
It goes without saying the Meryl Streep is fantastic as Ricki in the movie. She really embodies the character. In fact, I thought the entire cast was fine. However, there are so many unanswered questions about how she left, the divorce, the husband seeming perfect wife who picks up the pieces after Ricki left.
I have to admit that I liked the movie for the cast and the movie. I just wish it had a bit more story development.
Adam (Nick Westrate), Greg (Rick Springfield), Joshua ((Sebastian Stan), Julie (Mamie Gummer) and Ricki (Meryl Streep) in TriStar Pictures’ RICKI AND THE FLASH.
Ricki and the Flash Trailer
Ricki and the Flash Rocks into Theaters Friday, August 7.
Disclosure: NYC Single Mom attended a screening of Ricki and the Flash to facilitate this review.
