Ricki leads a rock band that plays small bars, and she works as a supermarket cashier to make ends meet. Years earlier she left her family to chase her musical dream. When her ex-husband Pete asks her to travel to Indianapolis to help their daughter Julie through a very difficult period, Ricki agrees, though winning over two sons who barely know her proves hard. The film follows her attempts to reach them and to face what she left behind.

How it was made

Diablo Cody based the script partly on her mother-in-law, Terry Cieri, who had fronted a New Jersey bar band for years. Cody wrote the role of Ricki with Meryl Streep in mind, noting that actresses over fifty in Hollywood rarely get complicated parts. Streep's real-life daughter, Mamie Gummer, plays Julie. Principal photography officially began on October 13, 2014, in Rye, New York, with scenes also shot in Nyack and at Untermyer Park in Yonkers, where the wedding sequence was filmed. Jonathan Demme directed, with cinematography by Declan Quinn and editing by Wyatt Smith. The film is dedicated to Rick Rosas, the bassist of the on-screen band, who died in November 2014.

Reception and legacy

The film opened on August 7, 2015, after being chosen as the opening selection of the Locarno Film Festival. It received mixed reviews: critics praised Streep and the cast but criticised the screenplay and its uneven tone. It holds a 64 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 54 out of 100. It grossed around 40 million dollars worldwide, more than its production budget. It was Jonathan Demme's last narrative feature before his death in April 2017.