''Ricki and the Flash'' is a 2015 American

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker. Beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film '' Caged Heat'', befo ...

and written by

Diablo Cody Brook Maurio (''née'' Busey; born June 14, 1978), known professionally by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American writer and producer. She gained recognition for her candid blog and subsequent memoir, '' Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unl ...

, about a woman who leaves her family to become a rock star and later gets a chance to make amends. The film stars

Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...

Mamie Gummer Mary Willa "Mamie" Gummer (born August 3, 1983) is an American actress. She starred in the title role of The CW series ''Emily Owens, M.D.'' (2012–2013), and played the recurring role of Nancy Crozier on '' The Good Wife'' (2010–2015) and its ...

Kevin Kline Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American actor. He is the recipient of an Academy Award and three Tony Awards. In addition, he has received nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five ...

, Sebastian Stan,

Rick Springfield Richard Lewis Springthorpe (born 23 August 1949), known professionally as Rick Springfield, is an Australian-American musician and actor. He was a member of the pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971, then started his solo career with his debut ...

, and

Audra McDonald Audra Ann McDonald (born July 3, 1970) is an American actress and singer. Primarily known for her work on the Broadway stage, she has won six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor, and is the only person to win in all four act ...

. The film marks Streep and Kline's third collaboration after '' Sophie's Choice'' (1982) and ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed '' Live from ...

'' (2006). It was Demme's final narrative film before his death in April 2017.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

began on October 13, 2014, in Rye,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

TriStar Pictures TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...

financed, and released the film on August 7, 2015. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances of the cast but criticised its screenplay and execution, and grossed $41 million against its $18–30 million production budget.

Plot

Ricki chased her dreams of becoming a famous rock star by abandoning her family. She gets a chance to put things right when her ex-husband Pete asks her to visit Indianapolis and help their estranged daughter Julie through a difficult time. Ricki has a rock band that plays a regular gig at a small bar, when she is not working as a cashier to make ends meet. Julie recently attempted suicide because her husband cheated on her and is divorcing her. Despite being broke, Ricki comes to Indianapolis to help her daughter, but Julie is hostile. Likewise, her two sons are hostile and unwelcoming. One has come out as gay and the other recently became engaged, though no one told their mother. Still, Ricki gets through to Julie. Pete's second wife, Maureen, returns unexpectedly, confronting Ricki with some hard truths. She wasn't there for her children when they needed her and Maureen was. Ashamed, Ricki returns to her band in California angry and bitter, insulting her guitarist who is in love with her. He makes her realize he cares and they make love. Maureen sends Ricki an invitation to the son's wedding as an olive branch, but Ricki can't afford to go. Her boyfriend sells his best guitar to pay for the tickets. Despite her attempts at reconciliation, she's clearly still an outsider. The wedding guests look askance at Ricki when she gets up to toast the bride and groom. As her gift, having no money, she has her band take over and play for the guests. Her son and his bride start the wedding dance and slowly the guests join in.

Cast

as Linda Brummel / Ricki Rendazzo *

as Pete Brummel *

as Julie Brummel *

as Maureen Brummel * Sebastian Stan as Joshua Brummel * Nick Westrate as Adam Brummel *

as Greg *

Ben Platt Benjamin Schiff Platt (born September 24, 1993) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He began his acting career in musical theater as a child and appeared in productions of ''The Sound of Music'' (2006) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (2012 ...

as Daniel *

Charlotte Rae Charlotte Rae Lubotsky (April 22, 1926 – August 5, 2018) was an American character actress and singer whose career spanned six decades. Rae was known for her portrayal of Edna Garrett in the sitcoms '' Diff'rent Strokes'' and its spin-off, ...

as Oma Brummel, Pete's mother *

Rick Rosas Rick "Rick the Bass Player" Rosas (September 10, 1949 – November 6, 2014) was an American musician, and one of the most sought after studio session musicians in Los Angeles. Though largely known for his long collaboration with Neil Young, throug ...

as Buster *

Bernie Worrell George Bernard Worrell, Jr. (April 19, 1944 – June 24, 2016) was an American keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Rol ...

as Billy * Joe Vitale as Joe * Gabriel Ebert as Max *

Carmen Carrera Carmen Carrera (born April 13, 1985) is an American reality television personality, model, burlesque performer, and actress, known for appearing on the third season of the Logo reality television series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', as well as its s ...

as Ricki's lead hairstylist *

Keala Settle Keala Joan Settle (born November 5, 1975) is an American actress and singer. Settle originated the role of Norma Valverde in '' Hands on a Hardbody'', which ran on Broadway in 2013, and was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Des ...

as Bar Patron *

Beau Sia Beau Sia (, born 1976) is an American slam poet. Life and career Sia was born in Ohio. He is of Chinese-Filipino descent. Raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Sia discovered spoken word poetry on MTV as a teenager. When not participating in his ...

as Desmond *

Hailey Gates Hailey Gates is an American model, actress, director, and journalist. She hosted the Viceland series '' States of Undress''. Early life Gates grew up in the Los Angeles area, where her family has resided for seven generations. Career ''The Paris ...

as Emily

Production

based the script in part on her mother-in-law Terry Cieri, who has fronted a New Jersey bar band for years. Cody said, "I watched her on stage so many times, and I thought to myself, 'This woman's life is a movie.' Cody specifically wrote the role of Ricki with Streep in her mind noting that actresses over 50 in Hollywood typically don't get complicated parts. Ricki's daughter is played by Streep's daughter,

marking the third film the two have made together, after 1986's ''

Heartburn Heartburn, also known as pyrosis, cardialgia or acid indigestion, is a burning sensation in the central chest or upper central abdomen. Heartburn is usually due to regurgitation of gastric acid (gastric reflux) into the esophagus. It is the ...

'' and 2007's ''

Evening Evening is the period of a day that starts at the end of the afternoon and overlaps with the beginning of night. The exact times when evening begins and ends depend on location, time of year, and culture, but it is generally regarded as beginn ...

''." ''Ricki and the Flash'' was dedicated to "Rick the Bass Player", which is the stage name for

who played "Buster", the Flash's bass player in the film, and who died in November 2014.

Filming

Filming was first set to begin on October 1, 2014, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

officially began on October 13, 2014, in Rye,

. On October 14, Streep was spotted filming some scenes at Numi & Co. Hair Salon in Rye. On November 3, 2014, she was also seen filming in

Nyack, New York Nyack () is a village located primarily in the town of Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, United States. Incorporated in 1872, it retains a very small western section in Clarkstown. It is a suburb of New York City lying approximately no ...

. The wedding sequence was shot at Untermyer Park in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as en ...

Release

On May 6, 2014,

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

's TriStar set the film for a June 26, 2015 release. The release date was later changed to August 7, 2015. The film was chosen as the opening selection for the 2015 Locarno Film Festival which was held on August 5, 2015, in Locarno, Switzerland.

Reception

Box office

''Ricki and the Flash'' grossed $26.8 million in the United States, and $13.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $40.1 million, against a budget of $18 million. The film grossed $6.6 million from 1,603 theaters in its opening weekend, finishing 7th at the box office. The film added 461 theaters in its second week (a total of 2,064 screens), but dropped to ninth place with $4.6 million (a decline of 31 percent). In its third week the film grossed $3 million from 2,013 screens. The film opened in Italy on September 11, 2015, and came in fifth place with a weekend total of $413,800.

Critical response

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds a rating of 65% based on 200 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Meryl Streep's outstanding work helps ''Ricki and the Flash'' overcome its inconsistent tone and fairly-predictable premise."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

gives the film a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. IGN gave the film a score of 7.8/10, saying, "''Ricki and the Flash'' offers a breezy, heartwarming, if somewhat manufactured tale about an aging rocker reconnecting with her family".

References

External links

* * * * * {{Diablo Cody 2015 films 2010s English-language films 2015 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films American LGBT-related films American rock music films Fictional LGBT couples Films directed by Jonathan Demme Films produced by Mason Novick Films produced by Marc E. Platt Films shot in New York (state) Films with screenplays by Diablo Cody TriStar Pictures films Films about mother–daughter relationships 2010s American films