It has been seven long years since Jonathan Demme came out with what is popularly known as a "woman's movie" (don't say "chick flick" — there's a difference) with "Rachel Getting Married." In many ways, "Ricki and the Flash" feels like the sequel to that earlier film. Both movies examined the behavioral dynamics of straying women who come back to the family fold due to a crisis. In "Rachel" it's a wedding; in "Ricki," a divorce.

Demme is best known (arguably) for 1991 serial killer thriller "The Silence of the Lambs," so I'm still getting over the surprise of seeing Demme so adept at portraying ordinary women in family situations. In both "Rachel Getting Married" and "Ricki and the Flash," they talk loudly, get their hair done, bond with each other in shopping mall aisles. See? Ordinary.

"Rachel Getting Married" features Anne Hathaway as Kym, a recovering drug addict who checks out of rehab for her sister's wedding, which is held in their childhood home. In "Ricki and the Flash," the focus is on 60-something Meryl Streep as a rock chick who never made it. Ricki could be Kym, 30 years down the line. They're both bored to death by the American suburban lifestyle, and they both strayed, sporting faux leather and layers of thick eye make-up to prove it. They easily write off gated McMansions, but it's more difficult to cut themselves off from their families. So they go home. Demme shoots both films as though he were totally mesmerized by what happens after the initial awkwardness of hugs, putting down luggage and the exchange of "Hi, it's been a while."