Read a brief synopsis of the film below:
"It's been a roller-coaster ride for Ricki Rendazzo (Meryl), a one-time wife and mother of three who left her family behind to follow her dreams of rock 'n' roll stardom. Now, the singer and guitarist must face the music when she returns home to Indiana to reconnect with ex-husband Pete (Kevin Kline), troubled daughter Julie (Mamie Gummer) and engaged son Josh (Sebastian Stan). Filled with regret, Ricki hopes to find redemption for all of the bad choices that she made in the past."
Check out more of my review below!
Note: Some spoilers may be ahead.
When daughter Julie becomes depressed after her husband leaves her, Ricki flies out to see her at her ex's house. At first, it's rocky with everyone under one roof, since Ricki left the family to do her music. However, Ricki's fun-loving, down-to earth attitude begins to win Julie and Pete over again. In some regards, we see that Ricki is kind of what the family is missing, and that Julie and Ricki are actually a lot alike. As Ricki begins warming up to them, though, she begins to really feel a part of the family, and has some unrealistic expectations of just being able to step back into her kids' lives. However, when she meets up with her sons Josh and Adam (Nick Westrate) and Josh's fiancee Emily (Hailey Gates), it's clear that that's going to take a while for them to warm up to her again.
Another interesting dynamic is between Ricki and Pete's wife Maureen (Audra McDonald), who has stepped in for Ricki as the children's mother for the past 20 years. Of course, Ricki feels like she can come back in like nothing's changed, but Maureen disagrees and would like her to go back home. After all, it was Maureen that was there for all of the big moments in the children's lives. There's a lot of tension between these two mothers, which sparked my interest when the movie started to lull a bit.
In the end, the family all comes to a happy conclusion as Meryl plays with her band, The Flash, at Josh's wedding. They realize that, as dysfunctional as they may be, they're all still family, which I expected. I found myself getting caught up in the emotional moments a little bit, I can't lie.
Meryl herself is a legendary actress. There is no denying this. With every character I've seen her play over the years, even with her acting as Ricki, I never see Meryl. I see the character. She's played a variety of different characters over the course of her career, and that's because her talent is impeccable. She truly becomes the character, beyond just the hair, makeup, and costuming. It's the taking on of different accents, different body movements, different tones, etc, that separates Meryl from a lot of other actresses. Meryl, seemingly effortlessly, gave a great rock 'n' roll character in Ricki.
Though I love Meryl, the film itself is definitely pretty predictable. It's a story of a regretful mom tries to reconnect with her kids, and manages to in some way (this time through some good old rock 'n' roll). Nothing wrong with that, but it's just predictable from the jump. And I know it's a movie, but let's be real. Twenty years of abandonment issues can't just be swept under the rug with a few cover songs. I would have loved to see more real conversation about Ricki uprooting to LA, and what her family really went through because of it. I also would have love to see more interaction and conversation between Ricki and her two sons, Josh and Adam. She mainly bonded with Julie and Pete until the wedding. However, this is a comedic drama, so you can't really expect all that I guess.
Overall, it's a cute movie, though kind of sappy, with funny moments and pretty good music (Meryl has a decent voice!). I can't say I absolutely loved it or would buy it, but I did enjoy watching for a night.
RATING: ★★★ 1/2 (three and 1/2 out of five stars)
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