Movie review: Ricki and the Flash (+trailer)

Eighties heartthrob Rick Springfield joins Meryl Streep in Ricki and the Flash.

Ricki and the Flash (PG)
101 minutes
Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5

Meryl Streep never fails to surprise with the breadth and quality of the performances she turns in.

The three-time Oscar-winning actress is never content with the safe roles - she seemingly challenges herself every time she steps before a camera.

The role of an ageing rock queen is hardly the sort of material I thought I'd ever see from Streep but her role as Ricki is exactly that as she delivers another supreme performance.

Ricki left her family years earlier - husband Pete (Kevin Kline), sons Josh (Sebastian Stan) and Adam (Nick Westrate) and daughter Julie (Mamie Gummer) - to pursue her dream to be a rock star.

The family were forced to get on with their lives with scant contact from Ricki in her new life in California.

When daughter Julie's marriage breaks up and she becomes suicidal, Ricki answers a call to come home to help her daughter rebuild her life.

Years of anger and hostility from the family is unleashed on Ricki for her abandonment.

However, in her own way she begins to connect with each of them in a way only a mother can.

She manages to bring Julie (Streep's actor daughter in real life) back into the world and address her situation.

Ricki's lifestyle with her rocker boyfriend Greg (Rick Springfield) is light years away from the privileged, rich background of her family and the clash of cultures is fascinating.

With Josh's wedding impending, Ricki must decide whether she wants to find a way back into her family's hearts or whether she only wants her safe lifestyle back on the West Coast.

Ricki and the Flash features some great rock tunes belted out by Streep and Springfield, and is a surprisingly "feel-good" movie about family and trying to make amends.