Shazam!
High Life
Widows
The Walking Dead
Log in with Facebook
OR
By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies, and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango.
Please enter your email address and we will email you a new password.
We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your account. Just leave us a message here and we will work on getting you verified.
Please reference “Error Code 2121” when contacting customer service.
Meryl Streep's outstanding work helps Ricki and the Flash overcome its inconsistent tone and fairly predictable premise.
All Critics (188) | Top Critics (48) | Fresh (120) | Rotten (68)
Meryl Streep lets it all hang out as a barroom rocker with family issues in this slight, enjoyable work-out. Sep 3, 2015 | Rating: 3/5
Meryl Streep lets it all hang out as a barroom rocker with family issues in this slight, enjoyable work-out.
Abbey Bender
After Meryl Streep sang her dungarees off in Mamma Mia!, I had great hopes for Ricki and the Flash. Sep 3, 2015 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
After Meryl Streep sang her dungarees off in Mamma Mia!, I had great hopes for Ricki and the Flash.
Kate Muir
No chore, and some fun, in an AOR-ish way. Sep 3, 2015 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
No chore, and some fun, in an AOR-ish way.
Mike McCahill
Likeable and surprisingly low-key. Aug 26, 2015 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
Likeable and surprisingly low-key.
Philippa Hawker
The movie is mature in the way it handles the regrets of absentee parents and the ways in which their children relate to them. There's a little Hollywood artifice here but not so much that the emotions feel inauthentic. Aug 9, 2015 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
The movie is mature in the way it handles the regrets of absentee parents and the ways in which their children relate to them. There's a little Hollywood artifice here but not so much that the emotions feel inauthentic.
James Berardinelli
Streep's latest mom role, as Ricki Rendazzo in Ricki and the Flash, has a light, Mamma Mia! vibe, but it still hits all those hot buttons. Aug 7, 2015 | Full Review…
Streep's latest mom role, as Ricki Rendazzo in Ricki and the Flash, has a light, Mamma Mia! vibe, but it still hits all those hot buttons.
Susanna Schrobsdorff
Demme plods through the familial tangles, but he tears through the music scenes with real verve. The film comes alive when Ricki is onstage; it's throwback barroom rock, euphorically delivered. Apr 5, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…
Demme plods through the familial tangles, but he tears through the music scenes with real verve. The film comes alive when Ricki is onstage; it's throwback barroom rock, euphorically delivered.
Craig Williams
Cody's script tries to juggle too many themes and ideas, abandoning a lot of them on the way. Mar 7, 2019 | Rating: 6.5/10 | Full Review…
Cody's script tries to juggle too many themes and ideas, abandoning a lot of them on the way.
Bernard Boo
It's not a film to write home about, but its honesty - albeit something hard to watch - is admirable. Jan 9, 2019 | Full Review…
It's not a film to write home about, but its honesty - albeit something hard to watch - is admirable.
Amanda Greever
This one will be a deep cut [Meryl]Streep fans will relish. Dec 9, 2018 | Rating: B | Full Review…
This one will be a deep cut [Meryl]Streep fans will relish.
James Clay
Skip this one and save your money. Aug 21, 2018 | Rating: 0.5/4 | Full Review…
Skip this one and save your money.
Pamela Powell
With Meryl at the center, Ricki's less than crowd-pleasing moments are fairly easy to overlook. Jun 13, 2018 | Full Review…
With Meryl at the center, Ricki's less than crowd-pleasing moments are fairly easy to overlook.
Bobby Finger
For Meryl Streep fans only. And then after at least half a bottle of vino. Or a joint. Or both. Yeah, both.
Super Reviewer
Okay drama of aging rocker trying to be there for her family after many years away isn't bad but goes on about ten minutes longer than it should.
A down-and-out, estranged mother comes back into the lives of her upper-middle-class children, ex-husband and his perfect second wife (played by perfect Audra McDonald, naturally). She wins them back through music, and it's really just so much fun. I know Meryl Streep is lauded as the best dramatic actress of her generation, but I've always thought the grand dame a bit stuffy and boring. Perhaps that's why I liked her departure into blue-lidded, Alanis-braided, tatted-up, has-been rockstar. The thing is, Meryl Streep ISN'T a badass; she dabbles in it, as does her character Ricki whom she plays as appropriately lost and hopeful and distant and maternal. She performs the mellow, classic rock selections better than the (possibly altered) mezzo belting of the Witch in "Into the Woods" and the tinny pop of Donna in "Mamma Mia." It's unfortunate that Streep breaks her streak of annual Oscar nominations, seeing as most critics found her performance campy and the movie predictable. Oh well. Mamie Gummer, Streep's doppelganger daughter, is a bit one-note ragey and one-note catatonic, but her Resting Bitch Face is intensely formidable, and I like the casting of real life family members in movies.
Decent, but got to admit, thought it might be a little better than it was. Meryl is great in it, and I loved her look. I would like to watch this one again before reviewing properly.
View All Quotes
View All