You have to hand it to Meryl Streep. In her mid 60s, she still generally doesn’t take the easy/obvious roles, with mixed results. Her mannered performance was the worst thing about August Osage County last year and she could not save the disastrous Iron Lady in 2011. Here she takes on an unlikely role of an aging lead singer and guitarist of rock band, and barring a couple of jarring on stage moments, manages to pull it off.
She plays Ricki (real name Linda) who left her husband and three children to pursue her music dreams but, decades later, she is in a resident covers band playing to small crowds in a bar. News that her daughter is severely depressed after the break up of her marriage makes Ricki return to her family for the first time in years. This middle section of the film as Ricki bonds with her daughter Julie has the most of the film’s best moments. A mixture of fish out of water comedy as the near bankrupt Ricki stays at her ex-husband’s opulent house and some believable moments between the two of them (not surprising as Julie is played by Streep’s real life daughter Mamie Gummer). Kevin Kline is also very good as the ex-husband, and you can see the fondness that remains between the two in the few scenes they have together.
Streep learnt to play the guitar for the role, wisely using the great Neil Young as one of her tutors, and is mostly convincing when performing, even though she is alongside seasoned performer Rick Springfield, who incidentally turns in one of the film’s best performances. Curiously, one of the film’s strengths, the on stage renditions of rock classics, is also one of it’s weaknesses because they take up so much of the running time. The rest of the story isn’t given the time to develop properly, as exemplified by the family accepting Ricki back far too easily. In fact, take out the musical numbers and it has the feel of a better acted Channel 5 afternoon film. Nevertheless, decent enough entertainment.
Rating: 6 out of 10