Review of Ricki and the Flash (2015) by Chelsey C — 07 Aug 2015

It's overall a fun time but it isn't perfect. Meryl looks like she is having the time of her life up there and it rubs off on you especially during the musical numbers. I wish some of the musical numbers were actually longer and there was less family drama stuff.

The stuff with the band felt very in the nature of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and maybe could have used more in between commentary and monologues to make them seem less of a montage and more of a performance.

Meryl is very good but don't expect this to be one of her going for Oscar movies, this is just her having a good time. The only thing I see this movie having Oscar potential with is the original song "Cold One" which is really good and one of the stand out musical numbers.

Her real life daughter, Mamie Gummer, is great in this. The talent definitely runs in the family and Mamie is really on the rise. I wish they didn't just kind of drop her character off mid way in the movie and not revisit her until the very end because I didn't feel like her story was well rounded in the end.

Many of the characters didn't seem to get that treatment and that is very odd coming from writer Diablo Cody. She wrote the masterful Juno and tv seres United States of Tara and she really hasn't been able to find her footing again lately.

There are many interesting characters here but I feel like a greater movie is buried in this one but what you get is fine. It is a little slow during the family plot but things kick back up when Ricki is back performing on the stage.

Ben Platt is a stand out as well. He only has a few scenes but anytime the camera is on him he is doing something hilarious or joyful. Rick Springfield is pretty good as well as is Kevin Kline, Audra MacDonald, and Sebastian Stan.

This movie was directed by the amazing Jonathan Demme and at times this movie really felt like his previous movie Rachel Getting Married. It involves the messy family dynamics and it is shot very similar in the wedding video style during the big wedding at the end of the movie.

Overall, it's a fun time and will leave you dancing in your seat until the very end credit rolls but there was a even better movie that could have been made involving these characters.