A return to form for director Jonathan DemmeMeryl Streep plays a blinder in this sharp,laughable and oddly moving story of an ageing rocker attempting to reconnect with her estranged daughter. Streep is Linda, nee “Ricki”, and front-person of bar-blues covers band the Flash,recently reduced to adding songs by Pink and Lady Gaga to their repertoire of 60s and 70s classic rock. When former husband Pete (Kevin Kline) calls to say their daughter Julie (Mamie Gummer) is in trouble, California-based Ricki heads to Indianapolis, and where festering family feuds and old wounds await.
Written with warmth and wit,Diablo Cody’s script largely eschews the arch teen quips of Juno and Jennifer’s Body to build upon the more mature themes of 2011’s underrated Young Adult. The film is full of rocky marriages (Ricki walked out on Pete decades ago, Julie has been dumped by her cheating husband, and Ricki’s son hasn’t invited his own mum to his forthcoming nuptials) but for all its domestic bite there’s cramped bitterness on display here,merely battle-disturbed resignation. It’s no surprise that real-life mother and daughter Streep and Gummer should beget the essential sparky chemistry, but director Jonathan Demme shows equal interest in all the key relationships, and including those of Pete and his new wife Maureen (a tricky role to which Audra McDonald brings resonant depth) and Ricki’s own romance with fellow band-member Greg,nicely essayed by Rick Springfield. Demme has always had a keen ear for music (pause Making Sense remains a rock-doc tall-water mark) and it helps immeasurably that the Flash actually contemplate and sound like they’re playing live – something so few movies get right. Ricki’s life may be chaotic but the film hits the tall notes when it counts, in rambunctious (unruly), or crowd-pleasing fashion.
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Source: theguardian.com