Ricki and the Flash (2015)

Sign in with Plex to see what you can watch and keep a watchlist.

Wikidata Q18342295, film, IMDb tt3623726, TMDB 275601: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only film by that title.

What a model would be handed about it, for corpus:ask.

In the store as #671, Ricki and the Flash (2015).

Who talked about it

Blank Check with Griffin & David

Came from

What the speakers say it drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

No line says it drew on another film or person.

Led to

What the speakers say drew on it, marked the same way.

No line says another film or person drew on it.

Connected to

Juno: 2 lines unmapped ×1 craft ×1

  1. craft (unlikable-character craft): Ricki and the Flash → Juno. Juno nails an innately unlikable character (Jennifer Garner) as pathologically uncool; Ricki's son-boyfriend scene is the failed version of that balance.
    “Jennifer Garner's character in Juno is so incredibly good at being like, this is an innately unlikable person who we always demonize in movies like this.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:11:44 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Wild Rose: 2 lines unmapped ×2

  1. unmapped (same ideas): Ricki and the Flash → Wild Rose. Wild Rose tackles a woman abandoning family for a music career and does it better, with a lead who is both charismatic and annoying.
    “And is not the exact same movie, but is exploring a lot of the same ideas.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:45:44 · Bobby Finger (0.50 sure it was them)

Young Adult: 2 lines contrast ×1 craft ×1

  1. contrast (inverse flaw): Ricki and the Flash → Young Adult. Young Adult is a little overwritten by Diablo Cody; Ricki is the mirror image, a little underwritten.
    “And then Ricky in the Flash is like the inverse of that where I'm like, this is like 10 to 15% underwrit.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:18:48 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

A Master Builder: 1 line verdict ×1

  1. verdict (worst Demme): Ricki and the Flash → A Master Builder. The hosts argue which is Demme's worst; Master Builder is declared probably worse than Ricki.
    “And then he makes master builder, which is probably his worst movie.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:30:01 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Crazy Mama: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (preferred Demme): Ricki and the Flash → Crazy Mama. One host prefers Crazy Mama and Caged Heat-era Demme to Ricki, which just disappoints.
    “I like Crazy Mama and Cage He far more than this.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:28:55 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Declan Quinn: 1 line craft ×1

  1. craft (craft): Declan Quinn → Ricki and the Flash. The host, after naming Quinn as cinematographer, finds the photography of Ricki weirdly flat and shiny, a disservice to hiring Demme.
    “this movie is weirdly flat and I don't know what's up with the photography at all.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:34:43 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Diablo Cody: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (source inspiration): Diablo Cody → Ricki and the Flash. Cody said Ricki is based on her mother-in-law, who plays in a bar band.
    “that her mother-in-law is part of a bar band that she would watch her play”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:01:27 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Fantastic Four: 1 line industry ×1

  1. industry (same weekend): Ricki and the Flash → Fantastic Four. Ricki opened the same August 2015 weekend as Fantastic Four, ranking number seven.
    “Ricky by the way, is opening at number seven.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:38:59 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Florence Foster Jenkins: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (bad-singer casting): Ricki and the Flash → Florence Foster Jenkins. Streep playing a bad singer in Florence Foster Jenkins is a more interesting performance than her unclear singing in Ricki.
    “I like her singing and like that's a more interesting performance, performance because we know she's a bad singer.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:22:55 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

How Do You Know: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (lighting): Ricki and the Flash → How Do You Know. The flat, equally bright lighting of Ricki is likened to How Do You Know.
    “It is like the how do you know lighting?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:29:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Jenny Lewis: 1 line craft ×1

  1. craft (craft): Jenny Lewis → Ricki and the Flash. The speaker likes the song 'Cold One', written by Jenny Lewis and her ex-boyfriend, and says it should have drawn a Golden Globe nomination.
    “Written by Jenny Lewis. Jenny Lewis and her ex-boyfriend.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:47:07 · Bobby Finger or Lindsey Weber (0.30 sure it was them)

Joy: 1 line industry ×1

  1. industry (awards snub): Ricki and the Flash → Joy. Streep lost the Globe comedy/musical lead category to Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, plus Trainwreck, Spy, Grandma and Lady in the Van nominees.
    “Meryl couldn't beat either of them out.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:42:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Mamie Gummer: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (casting real daughter): Mamie Gummer → Ricki and the Flash. Mamie Gummer plays Streep's daughter, a real mother-daughter pairing that seemed promising but doesn't help.
    “It's like they thought they were getting something special with having them be mother and daughter in this movie and they got the opposite”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:52:17 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Pixels: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (joke equivalence): Pixels → Ricki and the Flash. A joke that Pixels was Adam Sandler coming back to a recovering suicidal daughter, i.e. Ricki.
    “Became Adam Sandler coming back to a suicidal daughter's like recovery period.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:49:54 · Griffin Newman (0.35 sure it was them)

Rachel Getting Married: 1 line contrast ×1

  1. contrast (documentary-style contrast): Ricki and the Flash → Rachel Getting Married. Rachel Getting Married felt like Demme liberated; Ricki is his first studio film in 11 years.
    “Rachel getting married felt like him sort of being liberated.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:29:58 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Stop Making Sense: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (why Demme fit): Ricki and the Flash → Stop Making Sense. Demme was a sensible hire on paper because he made Stop Making Sense and Rachel Getting Married, plus a prior relationship with Streep.
    “If you go, like, you're getting the guy who did stop making sense and Rachel getting married.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:20:37 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Tom Rothman: 1 line industry ×1

  1. industry (studio interference): Tom Rothman → Ricki and the Flash. Rothman's micromanaging explains the too-big sets and too-bright scenes that smother Demme.
    “Tom Rothman, who is notoriously very controlling at Fox, very domineering and sort of micromanaging of everything, even just to the visual scheme of the movie.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:32:19 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Tully: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (specificity): Ricki and the Flash → Tully. Tully earns its modest, specific scenes of two people talking for most of its length; Ricki should have had that same energy between its complicated characters.
    “I wish this had the specificity that Tully has for so much of its running time”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:37:42 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Where it came up

What was said about it, by kind

contrast (2)

  1. contrast (inverse flaw): Ricki and the Flash → Young Adult. Young Adult is a little overwritten by Diablo Cody; Ricki is the mirror image, a little underwritten.
    “And then Ricky in the Flash is like the inverse of that where I'm like, this is like 10 to 15% underwrit.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:18:48 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. contrast (documentary-style contrast): Ricki and the Flash → Rachel Getting Married. Rachel Getting Married felt like Demme liberated; Ricki is his first studio film in 11 years.
    “Rachel getting married felt like him sort of being liberated.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:29:58 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

craft (4)

  1. craft (writing-style extremes): Ricki and the Flash → Young Adult. The speaker compares the two as opposite ends of Cody's style: Young Adult over-explains every incident, Ricki is vague about how bad Ricki was.
    “they feel like 2 sorts of extremes on her like her writing style, on the opposite ends.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:26:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft): Declan Quinn → Ricki and the Flash. The host, after naming Quinn as cinematographer, finds the photography of Ricki weirdly flat and shiny, a disservice to hiring Demme.
    “this movie is weirdly flat and I don't know what's up with the photography at all.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:34:43 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. craft (craft): Jenny Lewis → Ricki and the Flash. The speaker likes the song 'Cold One', written by Jenny Lewis and her ex-boyfriend, and says it should have drawn a Golden Globe nomination.
    “Written by Jenny Lewis. Jenny Lewis and her ex-boyfriend.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:47:07 · Bobby Finger or Lindsey Weber (0.30 sure it was them)
  4. craft (unlikable-character craft): Ricki and the Flash → Juno. Juno nails an innately unlikable character (Jennifer Garner) as pathologically uncool; Ricki's son-boyfriend scene is the failed version of that balance.
    “Jennifer Garner's character in Juno is so incredibly good at being like, this is an innately unlikable person who we always demonize in movies like this.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:11:44 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

industry (3)

  1. industry (awards snub): Ricki and the Flash → Joy. Streep lost the Globe comedy/musical lead category to Jennifer Lawrence in Joy, plus Trainwreck, Spy, Grandma and Lady in the Van nominees.
    “Meryl couldn't beat either of them out.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:42:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. industry (studio interference): Tom Rothman → Ricki and the Flash. Rothman's micromanaging explains the too-big sets and too-bright scenes that smother Demme.
    “Tom Rothman, who is notoriously very controlling at Fox, very domineering and sort of micromanaging of everything, even just to the visual scheme of the movie.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:32:19 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. industry (same weekend): Ricki and the Flash → Fantastic Four. Ricki opened the same August 2015 weekend as Fantastic Four, ranking number seven.
    “Ricky by the way, is opening at number seven.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:38:59 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

lineage (1)

  1. lineage (source inspiration): Diablo Cody → Ricki and the Flash. Cody said Ricki is based on her mother-in-law, who plays in a bar band.
    “that her mother-in-law is part of a bar band that she would watch her play”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:01:27 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

people (2)

  1. people (bad-singer casting): Ricki and the Flash → Florence Foster Jenkins. Streep playing a bad singer in Florence Foster Jenkins is a more interesting performance than her unclear singing in Ricki.
    “I like her singing and like that's a more interesting performance, performance because we know she's a bad singer.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:22:55 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. people (casting real daughter): Mamie Gummer → Ricki and the Flash. Mamie Gummer plays Streep's daughter, a real mother-daughter pairing that seemed promising but doesn't help.
    “It's like they thought they were getting something special with having them be mother and daughter in this movie and they got the opposite”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:52:17 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

unmapped (8)

  1. unmapped (why Demme fit): Ricki and the Flash → Stop Making Sense. Demme was a sensible hire on paper because he made Stop Making Sense and Rachel Getting Married, plus a prior relationship with Streep.
    “If you go, like, you're getting the guy who did stop making sense and Rachel getting married.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:20:37 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (lighting): Ricki and the Flash → How Do You Know. The flat, equally bright lighting of Ricki is likened to How Do You Know.
    “It is like the how do you know lighting?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:29:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (specificity): Ricki and the Flash → Tully. Tully earns its modest, specific scenes of two people talking for most of its length; Ricki should have had that same energy between its complicated characters.
    “I wish this had the specificity that Tully has for so much of its running time”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:37:42 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. unmapped (motherhood trilogy): Ricki and the Flash → Juno. Juno, Tully and Ricki are grouped as Diablo Cody movies about motherhood, with Young Adult as a possible fourth.
    “specifically Juno, Tully and Ricky and the Flash. The mother. All movies about motherhood.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:38:07 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  5. unmapped (same ideas): Ricki and the Flash → Wild Rose. Wild Rose tackles a woman abandoning family for a music career and does it better, with a lead who is both charismatic and annoying.
    “And is not the exact same movie, but is exploring a lot of the same ideas.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:45:44 · Bobby Finger (0.50 sure it was them)
  6. unmapped (talent reveal): Ricki and the Flash → Wild Rose. In Wild Rose the lead's talent reveal lands because she is a real fuck-up first; in Ricki we are told Ricki is good but can't tell.
    “The reveal of being really good.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:02:56 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  7. unmapped (preferred Demme): Ricki and the Flash → Crazy Mama. One host prefers Crazy Mama and Caged Heat-era Demme to Ricki, which just disappoints.
    “I like Crazy Mama and Cage He far more than this.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:28:55 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  8. unmapped (joke equivalence): Pixels → Ricki and the Flash. A joke that Pixels was Adam Sandler coming back to a recovering suicidal daughter, i.e. Ricki.
    “Became Adam Sandler coming back to a suicidal daughter's like recovery period.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:49:54 · Griffin Newman (0.35 sure it was them)

verdict (1)

  1. verdict (worst Demme): Ricki and the Flash → A Master Builder. The hosts argue which is Demme's worst; Master Builder is declared probably worse than Ricki.
    “And then he makes master builder, which is probably his worst movie.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:30:01 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items about it

  1. fun, about Ricki and the Flash: The bar-band casting problem: Bobby and Lindsey's old dive-bar KJ felt like a real regular; Streep as a bar-band singer never reads as a plausible mediocre singer.
    “And I couldn't tell if I was supposed to think Ricky was a good singer, a so-so singer, a great singer.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:23:29 · Bobby Finger (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Ricki and the Flash: The band includes Bernie Worrell of Parliament-Funkadelic and Talking Heads, and a member who is Demme's cousin or uncle.
    “This band is pretty crazy because you have Bernie Worrell in there.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:25:19 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Ricki and the Flash: Lighting complaint: every shot is equally shiny and bright whether indoors, outdoors, day or night, so it looks like a Wizards of Waverly Place set.
    “Where like every single shot of the movie is the shiniest thing you've ever seen and is equally bright, whether they are indoors, outdoors, daytime or nighttime.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:30:01 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Ricki and the Flash: Streep lost the Golden Globe comedy/musical actress award to Jennifer Lawrence for Joy; nominees included Trainwreck, Spy, Grandma and Lady in the Van, which the hosts use as proof of the film's mismarketing.
    “Right, but this it just shows how like mismarketed this movie was, when it was finished, everyone watched it, was like, what is that?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:42:49 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Ricki and the Flash: Box office: opened at number seven the weekend Fantastic Four opened to $25M and Rogue Nation held number one; made about $20M on a $30M budget.
    “And you're like, Ricky and the Flash like only costs 30 and still wasn't successful.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:45:17 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Ricki and the Flash: The Kam/Cam Collins essay question: was Audra McDonald's role written for a Black woman or just cast that way? The line about driving to a white school reads ambiguously.
    “I don't know if this is just demi casting a great actress and not giving a shit about the fact that she's black or Diablo Cody being like, specifically, this is supposed to be a black.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:49:03 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about Ricki and the Flash: The scene in which Ricki reveals her back tattoo to Audra McDonald, plus a throwaway about her brother dying in Vietnam, is the movie's best character unlock.
    “And that's when she says, I just had one brother and he died in Nam.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:07:00 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about Ricki and the Flash: Ben Platt shows up in a pointless scene because Marc Platt produced the movie.
    “Because the movie is produced by Mark Platt.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:08:37 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about Ricki and the Flash: IMDb-trivia bit: Rick Springfield pawns his 1968 Gibson SG, but the proceeds could have flown the entire band first class ten times; the speakers argue the plot point is pointless.
    “This is like, with a lowest guitar price and current plane fares, all 5 band members could have flown 1st class 10 times.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:17:54 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about Ricki and the Flash: Highlight scene: Kevin Kline, stoned with his head in Ricki's lap, is asked if he is really tired or just wanting to touch her, then steps back; a moment of restraint praised.
    “I am not cheating on my wife.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:24:39 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Ricki and the Flash: Quotable lines: the son says he was born gay and Ricki answers she was born Ricky; Mamie's 'I need a donut'.
    “when the sun says, I was born gay and she was and she says, I was born Ricky.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:27:22 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about Ricki and the Flash: A theory that the film would have worked better if cheaper and quieter, as a Meryl who agreed to be in a Demme movie, rather than Meryl hiring Demme.
    “and it was Meryl agreeing to be in a Jonathan Demi movie rather than Meryl hiring Jonathan Demi.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 1:32:41 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Who the speakers said made it

As said on the shows, not checked against the real credits.