A family crisis reunites an aged rocker/grocery clerk (the rhapsodical Meryl Streep) with the husband (Kevin Kline) and children she had years ago abandoned in favor of a life on the road. Jonathan Demme, no stranger to rockumentaries (Stop Making Sense), weddings (Rachel Getting Married), and/or American dreamers (Melvin and Howard), lays out his Sunday best — loose framing, vivid background characters and action, colors that pop — but it’s hipster scribe Diablo Cody’s (Juno) inert plotting that sets it on the path to nowhere. Here’s a flash: Cody can’t write a third act to save her life, but for once, her characters don’t all speak with the same voice, and a delicately handled confrontation between Streep and her replacement (Audra McDonald) is a definite step in the right direction. Mamma mia, this Streep can rock, but unless under strict orders from the studio to sell soundtracks, there was no call for the drama to play second fiddle to the music. (2015) — Scott Marks
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