Review of Ricki and the Flash (2015) by Will S — 17 Aug 2015

MAMIE MIA! - My Review of RICKI AND THE FLASH (3 Stars).

If there was ever a film where the review titles just write themselves, it's gotta be RICKI AND THE FLASH. Consider the also-rans:

JOSH GETTING MARRIED.

CITIZENS BLAND.

NOT WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER.

SILENCE OF THE HAMS.

MARRIED TO MY MOM.

RICKI LOSE THAT NUMBER.

FLASH DUNCE.

SOMETHING MILD.

RICKI'S CHOICE.

DREADS BECOME HER.

FLASH IN THE PAIN.

START MAKING SENSE.

SINS OF THE FLASH.

OLD ADULT.

MERYL'S BODY.

JU NO? NO, JU DON'T KNOW!

Written by Diablo Cody (the just-referenced JUNO) and directed by Jonathan Demme, RICKI is almost a carbon copy of Demme's RACHEL GETTING MARRIED and shows him once again dipping into the well of films about women who can't go home again. While slight, snail-paced, and Nora Ephron-esque in its high suburban, big kitchen island milieu, RICKI isn't the disaster it's been reputed to be...in fact, I thought it had real heart and charm despite its shortcomings.

Meryl Streep is Ricki, the leader of a Tarzana dive bar's house band and all-around Deadbeat Mom. Her boyfriend and lead guitarist, Greg (a terrific, low key Rick Springfield), spends most of his time talking Ricki off the ledge and clearly loves her despite her many flaws. Together, they sell their love of music, even if they're a low rent cover band, with such songs as "American Girl" (a sly callback to its use in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS), "Drift Away" and even Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance".

Unfortunately, like most musicians, Ricki needs her day job. As a cashier at a Whole Foods knockoff, she can barely afford the trip to Indiana to visit the children she abandoned long ago. One child in particular, Julie, played by Streep's real life daughter Mamie Gummer (more on her later), needs help. The film's inciting incident involves Julie's suicide attempt after her husband leaves her for another woman. Inconsolable and bitter, she resents her mother's presence as she shuts herself in at her father's mansion. Kevin Kline (Pete), reuniting with his SOPHIE'S CHOICE co-star, is the tightly-wound ex who has been married to Maureen (a wonderful Audra McDonald) for so many years, they're essentially the parents to Ricki's three grown children. In addition to Julie, there are her two sons, Josh (Sebastian Stan), who is about to get married and would prefer Ricki not attend, and Adam (Nick Westrate), gay and appalled by Ricki's Tea Party Republican leanings.

There's not much of a story, and what little there is just sits there at times, but Streep mines the pathos of a mother trying to connect with her children so well, that I lost myself in her cutting, specific performance. Allowing us to resent her for her absence while empathizing with her open-hearted attempts to lift her daughter's spirits, Streep's Ricki feels reminiscent of Cher's indelible Rusty in MASK. Helping Streep is Demme's humanist touch, one that harkens back to MELVIN AND HOWARD. Cinematographer Declan Quinn keeps things naturalistic and Cody's dialogue occasionally hits its mark, but neither deliver memorable work.

The real show, however, is Mamie Gummer. She's so blazingly good, so brittle yet vulnerable, I'm convinced that Meryl took this film as a gift to her daughter. I can imagine her thinking, "Well, it's not an amazing script, but my role is showy and the Julie part is killer, so I'll only do it if Mamie can be in it too. Time to pass that torch, no?" One scene in particular, when Streep and Kline defend their daughter achieves such a loveliness simply by showing Gummer's reaction. I don't think we need to say that the daughter of the greatest living actress of all time is one to watch, but damn, she's one to watch!

Surrounding these performances, (McDonald shines in one killer scene as well) is a second-rate RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, with its full song performances and wedding setting. Sure, it's a little lazy and overextended, but the fact that I felt something truly took me by surprise. I loved the chemistry between Streep and Springfield, although she and Kline underwhelmed. It's all a big class struggle mishmash, but Streep blazes through her songs like an old pro, reaching a lovely crescendo by the end. We may look back at this film in 10 years as a messy dud, but we'll also be saying it's that one where Mamie Gummer stepped out from her mother's considerable shadow.