Ricki and the Flash
TriStar Pictures | Release Date: August 7, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
21
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 6, 2015
Because Demme genuinely likes people and is interested in them, Ricki and the Flash feels like “Stella Dallas” as remade by Jean Renoir — it’s a humanist suburban fable. Read full review
83
HitfixGregory EllwoodAug 4, 2015
If you’re wondering whether you’ll believe Streep is a convincing rock musician, please. It’s Meryl Streep here. She sounds like she’s ready to open for Bruce Springsteen. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfAug 5, 2015
A movie that gives Streep her most emotionally blocked character in years, without caricature. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 6, 2015
Though this is the cinematic equivalent of an album of cover tunes by artists who have created much more dazzling original work, it’s a sweet, smart and funny confection. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 6, 2015
It's an entertaining diversion - a good way to pass a couple of hours as late summer evenings lengthen - but not much more. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonAug 6, 2015
Quite a few filmgoers lament the shortage of movies for adults. Ricki and the Flash goes against that trend with rock ’n’ roll attitude. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyAug 5, 2015
Ricki And The Flash is a movie of things that may have been done better earlier — sometimes by Demme himself — but which are done all too rarely nowadays, which makes it feel both retro and refreshing. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnAug 3, 2015
When Ricki and the Flash pierces its conventional trajectory with music, it gets more interesting. But the fluff surrounding it holds together well enough. Read full review
70
Screen DailyJohn HazeltonAug 3, 2015
A breezy but touching dysfunctional family dramedy, with real heart and some genuine musical soul. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattAug 4, 2015
Director Jonathan Demme and screenwriter Diablo Cody, both Oscar winners, have made far better films. Still, Ricki raises smart questions about why a mother’s musical ambitions are so much more selfish than, say, seven-time dad Mick Jagger’s. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Tina HassanniaAug 6, 2015
Regardless of its flimsy emotional interior, Ricki is a worthy addition in this year’s growing canon of strong female-centred films. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 6, 2015
Although sweet and likable, Ricki and the Flash pulls too many punches to qualify as cathartic or even memorable. Instead, it’s a crowd-pleaser every bit as calculated and earnestly defanged as a Golden Oldies bus-and-truck tour. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayAug 6, 2015
Director Jonathan Demme grasps the well of feeling of Diablo Cody's script and eventually harnesses it in his own image. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 5, 2015
Streep is positively effervescent in the part, sassy and in good voice (the acoustic Jenny Lewis cover is spot-on). And for all its overly-familiar notes, Ricki and the Flash rarely seems out-of-tune. Read full review
60
SlateDana StevensAug 6, 2015
The screenplay doesn't lack for memorable zingers, and thanks to Cody's script and Streep's performance, Ricki emerges as a complex, self-contradictory person (even if most of the supporting characters don't). Read full review
60
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonAug 4, 2015
Demme's film plays out like a catnapping afternoon dream. We recognize the world, yet the logic is screwy. Read full review
60
The GuardianJordan HoffmanAug 4, 2015
Ricki and the Flash’s emotional intensity creeps up on you, and it’s all due to the performances. Everyone’s sympathetic, everyone’s got depth. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenAug 3, 2015
Even with its well-observed moments, the movie’s nonmusical interactions, whether reaching for laughs or poignancy, too often feel flat and forced. Read full review
60
VarietyAndrew BarkerAug 3, 2015
This is a shaggy, easily distractible film that consistently defies expectations to both charming and baffling effect. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 7, 2015
Strutting around for most of the film in her leather rocker duds, Streep’s Ricki Rendazzo is almost as much of a concoction as her witch in Into the Woods. She wears her uniform as a taunt and also as a way of defining herself. She’s a woman out of time – a superannuated hippie. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyAug 7, 2015
A classic, and classically lamentable, good-news/bad news proposition. In the good news department, it’s largely a sturdy, enjoyable domestic comedy drama. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 6, 2015
Finally - and the news should really come as a relief - here is a role Streep should not have tried, in a movie that should not have been made. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 6, 2015
Ricki’s attitudes, and their place in the family and the society she inhabits, are the most interesting part of the movie, or at least they would be if Ms. Cody and Mr. Demme were not so weirdly conflict-averse. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallAug 6, 2015
As an actor, Meryl Streep is incapable of making false moves. That doesn't mean she's incapable of making false movies. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranAug 6, 2015
Ricki and the Flash is a sour movie masquerading as something more cheerful. In that attempted deception the film is both helped and hindered by an indispensable performance by star Meryl Streep. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 6, 2015
If only Streep would have put down the microphone and let Springfield sing “Jessie’s Girl,” Ricki and the Flash might have had half a chance. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 6, 2015
It helps that Kevin Kline excels as Ricki's ex, and Mamie Gummer, Streep's real-life daughter, imbues the fictional version with rare grit and grace. Otherwise, too many wrong notes. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 6, 2015
Why does this film, with so many first-rate artists in its corner, not quite work? Partly it's a matter of style, but mostly it's because the script is made of tin. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartAug 5, 2015
The movie itself seems equally divided between the sensibilities of hyperverbal writer Diablo Cody and music-centric director Jonathan Demme, and ends up falling into a muddy gap between the two. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezAug 4, 2015
Ricki And the Flash is about mistakes, regrets, and of course, redemption, but all of it feels a little too neat, familiar and convenient even if no one’s quite belting out “Kumbaya” by the end. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianJeff BakerAug 6, 2015
Sorry. The sight of the 66-year-old Streep gyrating her way through "Wooly Bully" has a way of blocking out rational thought. It's frightening but temporary, like a bad dream. Or this movie. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 6, 2015
This is a talented cast working for a talented director in a film that never reaches the heights it should have. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternAug 6, 2015
Seeking spontaneity and release for her character, Ms. Streep gets stuck in a laboriousness that I don’t want to belabor, since her efforts are gallant — she does her own singing and playing — and there are fleeting moments of real fun. Still, it’s hard not to wonder why so much in the movie went so wrong. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierAug 6, 2015
The story here, like a lot of bar bands, goes loud to cover up mediocrity. When Streep sings, though, so does the film. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesAug 5, 2015
The music so wholly engulfs the second half of the film, there’s no room left to expand on characters that feel less than lived-in or on the film’s more ambitious ideas. Read full review
30
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeAug 3, 2015
It’s fine to forfeit elements like stakes or suspense for a character piece, but when the characters are this vague, there’s nothing on which to hang your hat (or headband, for that matter). Read full review
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