To be honest, Jonathan Demme’s Ricki and The Flash sounds supremely bland on paper and it looked even worse in the trailers. Meryl Streep plays Linda Brummel aka Ricki, who years ago abandoned her family to pursue being a rock musician in L.A. Now she’s a Total Foods cashier by day and lead singer of amateur rock band The Flash by night. When ex-husband Pete (Kevin Kline) tells her that their daughter Julie (a feisty Mamie Gummer) has been left by her husband, Ricki hops a plane to Indiana to reconnect with her estranged family. It all sounds cliché (and it is) but the movie excels in its execution— primarily through its tonal execution as well as a solid script and top-notch acting. Read More