Parenting trainwrecks roll into theaters Bryan Alexander
You don’t have to look far for reminders of just how hard it is to be a good parent these days. Parental struggles are all over the big screen this summer — from Meryl Streep’s rock ’n’ roll mother in Ricki and the Flash to faulty advice from Dad in Trainwreck.
“The struggle to be a great parent, that’s something everyone who has raised a kid can relate to,” says Jonathan Demme, director of Ricki and the Flash. “To be a parent, earn a living, fulfill your ambitions; that’s all a tall order, man. It’s easy to go wrong.”
Here are some of the ways it goes very wrong onscreen this summer:
HITMAN: AGENT 47
Katia van Dees (Hannah Ware) doesn’t fully understand why shadowy figures are trying to kill her and trying to find her scientist father (played by Ciarán Hinds), or even how she manages to survive so spectacularly in the action thriller (opening Aug. 21).
Turns out long-lost dad has genetically modified her to be a super-killing machine. He never got around to telling Katia the big news. Cue awkward reunion.
THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL
Kristen Wiig ’s ’70s screen mother, Charlotte, never loses her love of partying — enjoying cocaine, drinking and copious marijuana while serving as a checked-out mother to Minnie (Bel Powley) in this dark coming-of-age comedy. It all turns with a twist that only Jerry Springer would find acceptable: Minnie having an affair with Mom’s boyfriend, Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård).
RICKI AND THE FLASH
Streep plays the aging rocker Ricki, with her screen daughter Julie played by Streep’s real-life daughter Mamie Gummer. Ricki ends up the source of long-building family scorn, which started when she left to make her music dreams come true in Los Angeles. Decades later, she barely earns an invite to her son’s wedding. She’s broke and still has commitment issues with her boyfriend.
Demme says he had to make sure Streep and Gummer’s solid real relationship didn’t come though onscreen.
“It was like, please don’t be Mommy and Daughter for the next six weeks. Please,” Demme says. “You be Julie, who hates her mom. You be Ricki, who left her kids behind, and you have that guilt.”
TRAINWRECK
The raunchy comedy gets right into the parental issues for Amy (Amy Schumer), who is unable to commit in relationships as an adult. The movie starts with her father (played by Colin Quinn) explaining to his two daughters why he’s getting a divorce.
He has them repeat “Monogamy is unrealistic” and asks whether they’d want to commit to playing with just one doll for the rest of their lives.
It does a number on Amy, even 23 years later.
SOUTHPAW
Troubled boxer Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) has a lot on his plate dealing with single parenting and the tragic loss of his wife in a shooting accident. But he goes off the rails and attacks a boxing referee, leading to professional troubles. Then he drives drunk, crashes and loses custody of his daughter, Leila (Oona Laurence), who is put under the care of a Child Protective Services officer.
Billy cleans up his act in the inspirational tale, but it takes a long time for Leila to forgive her father.
GRANDMA
There are two generations of absent parents in this dysfunctional-family dramedy opening Aug. 21. Sage (Julia Garner) ends up going to her grandmother, Elle (Lily Tomlin), when she gets pregnant by her boyfriend.
Sage’s driven single-mother, Judy (Marcia Gay Harden), had her own parent problems growing up, which made her a selfdescribed “misanthrope.” Judy can hardly stop her workout on the treadmill when her daughter decides to break the news to her.