“I came out here because I wanted to help you,” Ricki (Meryl Streep) tells her recently divorced daughter Julie (Mamie Gummer). The new trailer for “Ricki and the Flash” emphasizes Ricki’s fraught relationships with her children, particularly Julie. Ricki isn’t the mom her kids needed, and she’s certainly not the mom they wanted. She has good intentions, but as this new spot for the Diablo Cody-written film shows, Julie sees Ricki’s presence as more of a hindrance to her healing process than a help.
An aspiring rockstar, Ricki never made it big, but she still chose the road over home — a decision that her kids (Sebastian Stan and Streep’s real-life daughter Gummer), as well as her ex’s second wife (Audra McDonald), continue to hold against her.
“It doesn’t matter if your kids love you or not. It’s not their job to love you — it’s your job to love them,” Ricki’s bandmate/love interest tells her. This is a hard lesson for Ricki to learn, but an essential one. It appears that her kids notice and appreciate Ricki’s effort, as the trailer seems to suggest that her son asks Ricki to perform a song at his wedding — a wedding he was previously keeping secret from her because he didn’t want her to attend. Ricki takes the stage at the reception and explains, “I was never a traditional mom, but I am a musician, and that’s what I have to give.”
See if Ricki can make amends with her children and the choices she’s made when “Ricki and the Flash” opens August 7.
