Movie Review- Ricki and the Flash

Ricki and the Flash (2015)

Starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Mamie Gummer, Audra McDonald, Sebastian Stan, Ben Platt, and Rick Springfield

Directed by Jonathan Demme

I wasn't expecting much from Ricki and the Flash and diminished expectations probably worked in the Jonathan Demme directed, Diablo Cody penned film's favor because, when you really dig into things, there's really not much substance in this one.  The story is incredibly simple -- aging bar room rock band singer Ricki (Meryl Streep) receives a call from her ex-husband (Kevin Kline) that their daughter Julie (Mamie Gummer) has just been left by her husband and has sunk into a horrible depression.  The California-living Ricki returns to Indiana and finds that her family harbors deep resentment for her leaving them behind, forcing Ricki to examine her past and think about changing her future.

That minimal story is nearly overtaken by what seems like eight to ten musical interludes sung by a raspy-voiced Streep whose character's acerbic tongue and edgy attitude are enjoyable.  It's not even that Streep is an awful singer -- she's fully embracing and embodying the aging rock chick persona -- it's just that the film thinks that it can build her character by having her sing U2 and Springsteen songs.  It just doesn't work that way.  In the story moments in which Ricki is dealing with her family, this film is successful, but it just doesn't have enough of them to really click completely.

It's also rather unfortunate that Ricki and the Flash delves into the realm of old people smoking pot for comedic effect which loyal readers will know is one of my least favorite cinematic tropes.  Quite frankly, there's not much I despise more in film than screenwriters stooping to a low level of having their older actors light up in an attempt to show how fun and carefree they can really be.  This alone knocks the grade down a notch or two -- please, please make this concept stop!

That said, as mentioned Streep is quite good here, taking on the comedic aspects of the flick with gusto and also proving to be perfectly believable up on a stage playing a guitar.  Her real-life daughter Mamie Gummer holds her own up against the Legend That Is Streep, but beyond the character of Ricki no one else in the film really has much to go with in terms of character development.  Everything in the flick is very "surface" and while the film is a comedy and doesn't need deep pathos, it definitely needs a little more bite and a little more story for everyone in which to sink their teeth.  As it stands now, Ricki and the Flash is decent -- and better than I could have expected -- but it left me wanting more because it has sparks of great potential that end up just amounting to ho-humness.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Cake

Cake (2014)

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Adriana Barraza, Anna Kendrick, Sam Worthington, Mamie Gummer, Felicity Huffman, William H. Macy, and Chris Messina

Directed by Daniel Barnz

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

A little more darkly comic than I was expecting, Cake gives Jennifer Aniston a nice vehicle to showcase her dramatic chops (with tinges of humor), but surprisingly doesn't give her that "Oscar" moment for her to really make a huge impact.  Granted, that's not necessarily a bad thing -- the simplicity of the movie doesn't really call for that "Oscar Scene" to happen.  Still, the flick really fails on creating an emotional arc, with things feeling decidedly and disappointingly one-note.

Aniston is Claire Bennett, a woman in chronic pain struggling to cope with an horrific event from her past that fails to let her create a livable present.  With her life in shambles -- her husband (Chris Messina) has left her, a friend (Anna Kendrick) from her chronic pain support group has committed suicide, her anger causing issues with her group's leader (Felicity Huffman) and physical therapist (Mamie Gummer) -- the only person giving Claire any modicum of support is her housemaid Silvana (Adriana Barraza) who wishes nothing but the best for her employer, but is increasingly frustrated by Claire's reliance on pain medication to make it through day-to-day routines.

The best part of Cake is this relationship between Claire and Silvana, with both Aniston and Barraza playing off each other quite well creating moments of both humor and heartache.  The film falters when it branches out to some of the other aforementioned characters mainly because none of them are really given adequate time to create an emotional impact.  Ultimately, that's the underlying problem with Cake -- too many superfluous side stories when the best part of the screenplay focuses Claire's grief and how she and her only friend -- her maid -- deal with her issues.

You could certainly do worse than watch Cake and Aniston and Barraza are absolutely the reasons to give it a go.  Unfortunately, the screenplay doesn't quite give these two characters the adequate justice they deserve.

The RyMickey Rating:  C