Ricki and the Flash: movie review

The movie that sticks in my mind the most when it comes to Meryl Streep’s long and illustrious career is Out of Africa. Accent and all, she was mesmerising in it and I have never forgotten it. So when she comes onscreen in this movie, there was a certain disconnect — Meryl Streep was on stage wearing a leather pants and playing a guitar. Of all the things I thought she’d play ageing rocker never came to my mind — then again, this is Meryl Streep, I should have known better.

To be more accurate she’s a wannabe-rocker who never quite makes the big time. But, it’s Ricki’s role as deadbeat mum that’s the core to this movie – she left her family in pursuit of a dream that never did materialise. Her husband, Pete (Kevin Kline), remarried and her kids grew up in a loving household in suburbia.

The movie begins when Julie, their daughter, divorces and has a breakdown, and Pete calls Ricki as a last resort. She agrees to see Julie, and their reunion is an awkward, painful one. Slowly, the film unfurls just how out of touch she is with her kids, and how much they’ve gotten used to getting by without her. I realised I couldn’t remember another movie that had a deadbeat mom leave her kids – it’s usually the dad that does that.

Julie and Ricki are the centre around which much of this film revolves, and Mamie Gummer is excellent as a broken Julie. The film doesn’t try to make Ricki be the magical cure all for Julie’s problems, though she does succeed in some spots where Pete cannot. It’s when she finds out that Julie tried to commit suicide that Ricki is the most motherly in the film I think – she loses it. Rants, raves and rails at Pete who can do nothing but take it and try to calm her down. For much of this movie, that’s exactly what Pete does — he tries to keep peace — which gave a hint of how volatile Ricki must have been when she was younger. It’s clear that they never did belong together.

Beyond that, she’s the outsider, eager to help and be liked as someone with tons to make up for usually is. She takes what Julie and her sons dish out because she understands leaving them was her decision – they have a right to be angry with her or to not invite her to their wedding.

There is too a blistering confrontation with Mo, played by the gorgeous Audra McDonald, who is the only person who lays down some hard truths for her. Ricki’s jealousy comes out at how much better Mo is at being a mother to her kids and it’s painful to watch because it drives home to Ricki that she will always be the outsider in her family.

There’s a curious thing about an original song in the movie, which Ricki wrote, in which she sings that no one asked her to stay (when she left). It makes me wonder about what was edited out – was there a stronger reason for Pete and Ricki divorcing? I can’t decide if I like the idea of that, because life is messy – sometimes a mother will pack up and leave and doesn’t need a reason to push her out, like the song suggests there might have been.

Pete and her sons, along with her boyfriend for that matter are really just window dressing around Julie and Ricki. And, while Ricki and Pete do share a moment where they wonder what might have been, they’re so different people nothing could come of it. Her sons are literally just there. That’s it. And Rick Springfield plays a loving, wonderful boyfriend… whose name, about two days later, I can’t really remember – which says a lot about his character I think.

As much as Ricki is at peace with herself, and a little with her kids by the end, she’s a sad figure. But she owns that — she made her decision and she reaps the consequences. It’s a thoughtful movie, I think.

And, Meryl Streep can do anything.

Have you watched? What did you think?