Mamie Gummer, who plays Streep's daughter in the film, is actually her daughter in real life.
Ricki and The Flash is probably one of the worst titles for this film. Though Meryl Streep (Suffragette) is indeed the title character Ricki (aka Linda), and her band is indeed The Flash, the title pretty much misdirects the potential viewer from the dysfunctional family antics of the film and the heartwarming coming together of said family.
Ricki and The Flash is the story of an absentee mother whose spent her life chasing a dream that was never within reach, leaving behind her husband and children. Today she spends her time balancing an unsatisfying job as a cashier at a grocery store and playing cover tunes in a bar. Her life is suddenly thrown into a spiral when she gets a call from her ex-husband who informs her that their daughter's marriage has fallen apart and that she's stuck in a depressive funk.
Returning to her family she literally has to face the music, though honestly in my opinion there doesn't seem to be that much friction going on. Not in the overly melodramatic way this scenario has been hashed out in several other films pretty much made up of a similar plot.
Kevin Kline (My Old Lady) plays the likeable ex-husband Pete whose cooperative, and sometimes too passive persona, leaves a void between the history of the two characters.
Mamie Gummer (The Good Wife) plays Streep's depressed daughter Julie, who after a brief moment of aggression, quickly converts to her mothers loving, albeit sarcastic, daughter. It's a bit unbelievable at best, but for the sake of progression it manages to work.
Finally were introduced to Ricki's sons, who are sorely underused. Daniel (Ben Platt- Pitch Perfect 1 & 2) and Josh (Sebastian Stan- Captain America: Civil War). Though were given an insight into the two brothers and how their lives are going sans Mom, it's pretty much white noise in the light premise of the film.
Ricki and The Flash makes for a decent rainy day, feel good type of film, but is far from revolutionary.
PICTURE AND SOUND QUALITY:
Ricki and The Flash, like the films plot, has a picture that is pretty straight forward. Detail is great, color saturation is (or should be) organically standard for HD, and there is very little interference from artifacting or banding. Though there's nothing much to take advantage of the high quality picture, other then to put an emphasis on the aging facial features of Steep's forever young Ricki the rocker character, it's just a straight picture enhancer for a film with little to offer in the grand scheme of the HD arena.
Sound stands out, but only during the scenes in which Ricki and The Flash play their cover tunes at the bar. You can get a pretty good immersion experience there with the feel and sound of the band rocking out and the utilizing of surround sound support for the ambiance of the barlife. Other then that the picture is mostly dialog heavy with very little background interference .
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