RICKI AND THE FLASH

RICKI AND THE FLASH stars Meryl Streep as a middle-aged rock singer who has to return home, where she tries to reconcile with her children, including a suicidal daughter whose husband just left her. RICKI AND THE FLASH has some nice family elements, with some good acting, but is uneven and has some politically correct components along with some crude content.

Ricki lives in Los Angeles and has always tried to be a rock star. Though she’s a great performer, she’s never made it to the big time. Her current band is called Ricki and the Flash and plays frequently at a small dive bar in the San Fernando Valley. When Ricki is at her day job at a posh supermarket, she gets a call from her ex husband, Peter. It turns out that their daughter, Julie, was left by her new husband, Max, after less than two years. Julie is depressed, so Ricki decides to take a plane to see her.

However, it’s literally been years since Ricki and Julie have seen each other. So, when they do see each other again, there’s immediate hostility. Julie’s hair is a ratted mess. She’s completely broken by her husband leaving her. When Ricki finds out Julie had attempted suicide, she’s deeply saddened that she wasn’t there to help her daughter. From this point, Ricki decides she needs to be more involved with her children. However, after going to dinner with all three of them, she realizes they have deep resentment toward her. The family is dysfunctional, and Ricki must work hard to regain their love and trust.

RICKI AND THE FLASH has some nice elements of building family, even though the title character left the family when she was younger in order to pursue her dreams and the family has been dysfunctional ever sense. Ricki never truly asks for forgiveness from her family, but instead the family just accepts that she left. The children’s personal problems are also simply accepted, including a homosexual son, a suicidal daughter, a controlling stepmother, etc. Thus, there’s no real hope in the movie, except for the message that other people must accept our own dysfunction. Overall, therefore, the movie has a strong Romantic, pagan worldview where each character does what their heart desires.

RICKI AND THE FLASH has some good acting. Meryl Streep does a good portrayal of her character, as does Streep’s very own daughter, Mamie Gummer, who plays her daughter in the movie. That said, the movie’s structure is slow and needs better editing. Also, the movie doesn’t know its audience, having a homosexual couple, a Republican couple, an environmentalist couple, and many other stereotypes in to one movie. Ultimately, therefore, RICKI AND THE FLASH is a forgettable, somewhat politically correct movie with a Romantic, pagan worldview. It also has some foul language and other immoral behavior, so extreme caution is advised.