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Thursday, June 9, 2016

Ricki and the Flash (2015)

There is a good amount of wisdom in this romantic comedy with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, both of whom I am very fond of as actors.  They play people who are their own age, more or less, and that has its own appeal as well.  The script is written by Diablo Cody, who did ground breaking work with Juno, and who is witty and acerbic and funny all wrapped up in a smart dialogue.  So a promising start.
Ricki (Streep) is an aging rock star want to be.  Pete (Kline) left her because of her itinerant lifestyle and lack of stable parenting for her children, and married a woman who brought the children to adulthood.  Unfortunately none of them are too fond of Ricki as a result.
Fast forward to the present.  Ricki is now in a band that is essentially the house band in a bar where they are now forced to play some Lady Gaga in addition to their 70's standards.  The band sounds amazing, and that is probably because there are some experienced rockers in it, including Ricky Springfield, who plays Streep's boyfriend.  Ricki is called to the home of her ex-husband because her daughter has tried to commit suicide, and he wants her to come and see her.  Pete is confused about what he hopes she will do, he just feels like she should be there, and the rest of the movie is about the attempts at healing old wounds in a broken family.  Really, it is good, and not a down beat movie that the plot summary might imply.  Try it.

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