We all have dreams we are told are achievable with the right amounts of talent, dedication and sacrifice. It’s the message that is ingrained in us through children’s television – from ‘Sesame Street’ to the starring roles of Hilary Duff.
Even many of the music biographies that have been filling cinema timetables have shown the struggle of ‘making it’ is just a small hurdle that becomes a part of their myth. But, despite all of this, for some the dream is a lot further out of reach than thought, but still they cling to it. It’s why you’ll meet many musicians when you’re ordering coffee from them at your local café. Screenwriter Diablo Cody and Director Jonathan Demme have taken the inspiration of the never-were for their rock film collaboration ‘Ricki And The Flash.’
The film follows Ricki Rendazzo (Meryl Streep), an aged rocker who abandoned her family to pursue her dream of making it as a musician. Her shot at stardom didn’t go the way she wanted, with her now playing in a cover band every night in a small Los Angeles bar with her guitarist/friend with benefits Greg (Rick Springfield, singer of ‘Jessie’s Girl’), and spending her days working for minimum wage at a grocery store. Ricki’s ex-husband (Kevin Kline) reaches out to Ricki to visit her family and help their daughter (Mamie Gummer) through her own divorce. Ricki flies to Indianapolis to reconnect with her estranged family and finally put things right.
The concept of this film starts off as a great skewering of traditional narratives by focusing on the aftereffects of a dream gone sour and how chasing it can have repercussions. Diablo Cody has done this wonderfully in the past, creating a positive teen pregnancy story in 'Juno', and a sociopathic homecoming film with 'Young Adult'. Unfortunately, what starts off as promising quickly falls into formulaic territory with no real development of story or characters. Storylines are quickly dropped, leaving large holes in the plot, and other characters are underutilised to the point they come off as fleshy props. It basically becomes a vehicle for Meryl Streep to show off her acting and singing chops – which isn’t a bad thing.
Streep is an amazing actress, as proven time and again (refer to ‘Modern Family’ line: “Meryl Streep could play Batman and be amazing.”). While it is a shame that she has become the focal point in what could’ve been a great ensemble piece, her charm wins the audience over as soon as she appears. Streep manages to remain a likeable character with a giant Tea Party symbol tattooed to her back while spouting some off-putting right-wing politics. The dialogue patented Diablo Cody feeds Streep is humorous and filled with pop culture references, with a particular line about steel wool standing out.
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A standout scene is when the reconnected family goes out for dinner for the first time in so long, with the cast presenting a great amount of chemistry between each other and realistically showing that families are filled with unique and individual personalities that will often clash. ‘Ricki And The Flash’ would have stood with the rest of Diablo Cody’s written works, but instead it opts to make everything easily fixed by Meryl Streep’s presence like a leather-clad and smoky-voiced Mary Poppins, or how I imagine Meryl Streep to be in her everyday life.
Despite its faults, ‘Ricki And The Flash’ is heart-warming without being manipulative, but misguided in its attempt at developing a great story from a brilliant concept.
★★★
