The Paramount Pictures marketing department were so certain that Barbra Streisand would gain a Golden Globe nomination for her performance, that not only did they put out an ad congratulating her victory, but posted it online moments before the nominations were announced, only to be swiftly pulled when Streisand ended up without the nod. A few weeks later, she received a Razzie nomination for Worst Leading Actress for her performance here.
Dan Fogelman wrote the film based on a road trip he and his mother Joyce took from New Jersey to Las Vegas, Nevada. The film is dedicated to her.
One of the deciding factors in Barbra Streisand taking on the film was the approval of her son, Jason Gould. He read the script when he was recovering from back surgery and gave it the thumbs up.
This movie was meant to be "for airplanes only" when Seth Rogen made the admission about it during an interview on the podcast "Doug Loves Movies".