Ricki and the Flash

Everyone wants to "rock on", no one more so than Meryl Streep as the eponymous Ricki in a comedy drama directed by Jonathan Demme. Despite ongoing financial and past marital issues, Ricki lives to please the mixed crowd of regulars at a California honky-tonk by night while slaving at a soulless health-food supermarket in normal working hours. One call from her reasonable, strait-laced ex-husband (Kevin Kline) and Ricki is back to the gated nest, tending to her surly, newly divorced daughter (Mamie Gummer). Still, she struggles to find a place in the family after a hard welcome in an uneven script by Diablo Cody (Juno). Demme's spare direction concentrates a bit too much on several full-length, well-wrought tunes sung by Streep and though charming and laudable, the many close-ups of Gummer (Streep's real-life daughter) give it the whiff of a vanity project. Thankfully Kline and ex-rock star Rick Springfield fit in well while Streep convinces as the failed rock star with a heart of gold-plate - tight leather, dumb hair and all.