It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

A musician (Meryl Streep) who gave up everything for her dream of rock-and-roll stardom returns home, looking to make things right with her family.This film ended up on my to-see list simply because I wanted to pay tribute to Jonathan Demme. This is not one of his better films, and despite what the DVD cover says, this is not one of Streep's best films, either. Heck, it is not even Diablo Cody's best work. It is middling on all counts, an average plot fleshed out with musical numbers.In more ways than one, this is sort of like Demme's "Rachel Getting Married". So, if you liked that, maybe you will like this. I may have enjoyed this one marginally more simply because it doesn't have Anne Hathaway. But both have damaged characters and a wedding as a central scene.

Ricki and the Flash sometimes dabbles in the corny, setting aside reality for easy fixes in its complex relationships. Otherwise, this family dramedy about loving others for who they are really works. Ricki is a great character who doesn't quite fit any one character cliché, riding the lines of good and bad like we all tend to do. The awkwardness is palpable, the humor is natural, the dialogue is engagingly overlapping and the performances are strong.

"Wherever I am, I am what's missing." - Mark StrandDirected by Jonathan Demme, "Ricki and the Flash" stars Meryl Streep as Ricki, a rambunctious woman who leaves her wealthy husband (Kevin Kline) and embarks upon a quest to become a rock star. These dreams don't pan out, however, and Ricki instead finds herself playing at bars and working as a cashier.Demme directed "Rachel Getting Married" in 2008, a film rife with suicides, weddings and cosy unions between different ethnic groups. "Ricki and the Flash" has similar preoccupations; we watch as Ricki reconnects with her estranged sons, helps her daughter escape suicidal depression, and learns to accept, forgive and beg forgiveness from her husband and his new wife, an African American woman who teaches Ricki to let go of various racial prejudices and preconceptions.At the heart of "Ricki", though, is the tension between being a mother - and so having responsibilities to others - and being an independent artist who lives for one's art. What Ricki learns is that the two positions are not necessarily contradictory. She demonstrates this at the end of Demme's film; Ricki may be a giant train-wreck, but her music brings everyone together. Echoing Demme's many music documentaries/concert shows, "Ricki" thus portrays art as something communal and inclusive. Climaxing with Bruce Springsteen's "My Love Will Not Let You Down", it merges the rebellious ethos of rock-and-roll with more traditional family values."Ricki and the Flash" has all the positives and negatives associated with Jonathan Demme. It's well acted (at this point, Streep is practically a national institution), entertaining, sweet and boasts a catchy soundtrack. Like most of Demme's films, however, its attempts to sketch America's underbelly, with its working class anxieties and racial tensions, are mostly overly cute and overly idealistic. Mamie Gummer co-stars.7.9/10 - Worth one viewing.

I originally gave this 5 out of 10, but after careful consideration I settled on 1 out of 10 because it really was that bad. At first I didn't think it was all that bad, but then again I was at home sick with the flu, so I wasn't even in my right mind when I watched it. The characters were incredibly annoying and the story was predictable as taxes. Meryl Streep isn't even trying, Kevin Kline looks embarrassed to be in the movie, the girl who plays their daughter was annoying as hell - just whiny, immature and completely psychotic, same with the their eldest son, Sebastian Stan as the second son looked equally embarrassed as Kline, the girl who played Stan's fiancée was a whiny, stuck-up snob, and the woman that Kline's character married was condescending and self- righteous. The only redeeming feature of the movie was the eldest son's boyfriend and possibly Ricki's boyfriend, they were at least pleasant, particularly the son's boyfriend in the brief moment that he was on-screen. Oh, and they play the same two songs over and over and over again throughout the movie, so watch out for that.