Movie review | Meryl Streep can’t quite pull off rock, but we love her anyway
Ricki and The Flash**
In limited release around the Grand Strand, it seemed Meryl Streep’s newest family drama, “Ricki and The Flash,” named for a fictitious cover band in which Streep’s character, Ricki Rendazzo, is the leader, would be a flash in the pan.
Early in its mid-August release it was only showing on one screen out of some 70 in the area. Now, mysteriously, it’s still hanging on at four screens (as of our publishing deadline), and as Meryl Streep is arguably the finest actor of her generation, and one or two others, the film is worth a late look.
Kevin Kline co-stars as Ricki’s conservative, high-achieving ex-husband. Streep’s look-a-like actual daughter, Mamie Gummer, plays Ricki’s estranged, traumatized daughter. Rick Springfield (“Jessie’s Girl”) is the closest to a real-life rocker on screen as Ricki’s lead guitarist and boyfriend.
Plenty of snappy dialog and believable family-in-crisis scenarios make this an interesting and typical, as of late, Streep movie. Just one problem. … There’s an old adage that says ‘most actors really want to be musicians, and most musicians really want to be actors,’ and there’re plenty of examples to support this.
The problem is most musicians should stick to music, and most actors should stick to acting. Streep is not good as the Bonnie Raitt wannabee Ricki. She wants to rock, she tries hard, but she’s just not that good, and there are at least a half-dozen full length songs we have to sit through.
We’ve heard Streep sing in other movies, and though her bio says she began her career as a singer, she’s simply not much of one. Still, she’s Meryl Streep and she can do whatever the hell she wants to. Even if her musical abilities don’t win her any Grammy’s any time soon, it’s likely she will knock down another Oscar before she retires one day, but it won’t be for “Ricki and The Flash.”
What do those stars mean?
* Really, really, really bad. Don’t bother.
** Pretty bad, with one or more redeeming scenes.
*** Pretty good, but maybe not great, worth seeing for most
**** Really great, a winning combination of story, casting, and directing
***** The rarest gem, an all-around perfect motion picture
This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Movie review | Meryl Streep can’t quite pull off rock, but we love her anyway."