Ricki and the Flash- Review

A last minute pre-bed movie choice. I was half expecting this movie to be based off Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac just because of the trailers I saw but that wasn't the case. This movie features the talents of Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Mamie Gummer and the very old, wishing-he-stayed-in-the-80s Mr. Rick Springfield (oh god).

In short and spoiler free, this movie is about a woman named Ricki who originally juggled two dreams of being a full-time mother and a rockstar but had to forfeit one to achieve. As a setback occurs, she flies to Indiana to see her ex-husband, troubled daughter and two sons and tries to fix the holes in everyone's heart. Including her own.

The performances: The acting in this movie wasn't anything particularly special I must say. Though Meryl Streep is a very good actress and is able to adapt quite quickly to the characters she has to play, I wasn't overly impressed with this role. I will tip my hat to her however, as she used her real voice for songs and that was brilliant to see. I don't really see Meryl as being a comedic character or less than serious, which was pretty much the entire design of Ricki.

Kevin Kline to me just seemed so pathetic and useless in this movie. He didn't say much that was of great importance or relevance and just seemed to be getting in the way every time he opened his mouth. I don't hate his character, I just think if he had been characterised better and had more of a backstory, he could have made this movie a little more interesting.

Probably the closest thing we have to realism in a character was that of Mamie Gummer who played Julie. Julie is the product of a marital arrangement gone wrong and had become reclusive and depressed. At first she expresses great resentment to her estranged-mother who she only ever calls "Ricki" but soon finds that her mother understands her and is willing to make a difference for the better. I also wanted to see more of a backstory to Julie but was not given that luxury.

Finally, Rick Springfield. Oh boy. I didn't even like his music, so that should be saying something about his acting. I found his character to be dry, boring and simply unnecessary, He didn't say anything important apart from the line "it's not their job to love you, it's your job to love them." Again, he was a useless character and I didn't like him or care about him. You have to be open minded when trying to understand characters and whether or not they have any significance to the story, but he honestly didn't and the movie still could have rolled without him.

The cons: Apart from the performances, I also had an issue with how mediocre the storyline was. This could have been written so much better than it was, it could have gone in so many different directions and the characters could have had an actual backstory that would have presented this movie better. I was disappointed with Diablo Cody this time. She has created some real interesting works such as "United States of Tara" and "Juno" but this just wasn't all that fantastic.

I also found that the characters were a little cliché and I hate cliché. This movie was directed by Jonathan Demme...the man who directed THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS! ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?! How does one go from something as awesome as The Silence of the Lambs to Ricki and the Flash? Please explain!! I'm so disappointed right now.

I'm pretty glad that when this movie came out, I wasn't bothered to see it or to pay for a movie ticket. Definitely something to watch if you're bored and it's on television, Netflix or a movie channel. Clean up your act Jonathan, you have greatness in there so please use it.

Score: 5/10

Rating: (2015) M15+ drug use and sexual references