Ricki and the Flash has bits of fun, drama and entertainment blended with a lot of musical elements.
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.
Ricki and the Flash
Pros
- A light comedy and drama
- Great songs
- Great performances by the Cast
- Hats off to Meryl Streep's talent
Cons
- Pathetic Editing
- Long songs could have been easily chipped off
- Drama lacked gravity
- Screenplay was poor
