Despite being a silent film in that no one speaks dialogue, its references span the decades, from the silent masterpiece Modern Times (when Shaun’s characters do speak, it’s in unintelligible gibberish clearly inspired by the Chaplin film) to The Silence of the Lambs.

For a franchise that began nearly two decades ago (and was a hit TV show before that), here’s one that somehow manages to retain its freshness.

Ricki and the Flash mines various confrontations in a manner that causes a level of discomfort among both the characters and the audience members. These standoffs bring out the best in Streep, who hadn’t delivered an interesting performance since 2009’s Julie & Julia.

Woody Allen’s latest film rarely feels like anything more than a college-level term project – perhaps appropriately, given its scholastic setting.

An extremely pleasant diversion with a few memorable bits and a likable cast, but true comic invention is hard to locate in the meandering screenplay by the late John Hughes.