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This article was originally published in 2015 and has been updated to include Meryl Streeps latest work.
Want a convincing case for the value of a postgraduate education?
Within a year she had won a Tony.
Within two she had her first feature-film role.
Within three she had won an Oscar.
Looks like she got her moneys worth at Yale.
And we can say and weve watched themall shes incapable of a bad performance.
Even sleepwalking Streep is riveting to watch: She always finds something in even the most thankless roles.
So, time for us to start ranking.
This isnt a ranking of the best Streep films: Its a ranking of Streeps performances in them.
Below, we count down to the best.
By the end she looks ready to fall asleep.
Youll have beaten her to the punch.
The student turns out to be unbalanced as well as brilliant, and the movie ends in tragedy.
Streep is so wrapped up here that at several points she resembles one of the townspeople in Footloose.
Nonetheless, Streeps win for this outright howler of a biopic remains baffling.
director Phyllida Lloyd clearly lacking the confidence to do her subject justice.
We wonder if Streep even remembers she got an Academy Award nomination for it.
This was a Netflix would-be coup quickly forgotten and honestly, for good reason.
A year later, Nicholson and Streep would get this right.
40.Falling in Love(1984)
Streep had just madeSilkwoodandSophies Choice.
Robert De Niro had just finishedOnce Upon a Time in America,The King of Comedy, andRaging Bull.
Theres nothing particularly offensive about the film, but theres nothing much compelling either.
39.Mary Poppins Returns(2018)
Maybe Streep shouldnt work with Rob Marshall.
Sometimes, when shes just trying to have a little fun, she can miss the mark.
And despite all of Streeps accolades, her performance of Stephen Sondheims indelible songs isnt particularly memorable.
Just think how great peak-era Bernadette Peters would have been in this part.
Streep doesnt bring much depth to her character, but she sure seems to be having a blast.
(Of note: This was, in fact, Barrs and Streeps final collaboration!)
(One ofPrimes main tensions is that she doesnt want her boy marrying outside of their faith.)
31.Manhattan(1979)
All right, so shes barely in this.
(She has maybe three scenes for about four total minutes of screen time.)
Streep plays Allens ex-wife, a lesbian who is writing a book about their marriage.
Its a nearly perfect movie: Its quite possibly the best movie Streep was ever in.
(There are many other contenders well be getting to later.)
26.The River Wild(1994)
Meryl Streep: Action Hero.
For some reason, Streep never quite feels right in movies where she lives in Los Angeles.
Its largely forgotten today, and with understandable reason.
That said, Streep is pretty great.
But shed be better in other movies like this one.
(Wed argue Florence Pugh does that best.)
Shes clearly having a great time here, and you will too.
Naturally, that means she didnt get an Oscar nomination for it.
you might believe this woman would have an estranged daughter: Streep is uncompromising in how suffocating she is.
Despite the Oscar nomination, this is one of Streeps more interesting and underrated performances.
17.Mamma Mia!andMamma Mia!
But in her prime, Streep was able to transcend this.
The movie might have been artificial, but she never was.
(Seriously: That light is still extremely dim.)
She has an impossible job here.
And yet you still feel for her.
Its an unfussy, cranky little performance, and its one of her best.
8.The Post(2017)
Kay Graham is not the typical Streep creation.
Streep often is showy here, shes straightforward, yet still riveting.
This movie is lightyears better than it has any reason to be, and Streeps the reason.
Streep grabbed the part, knocked it out of the park, and won her first Oscar.
The final shot is as haunting as ever.
And Streep is just wonderful.
Shes funny, shes charming, and shes real.
(We love how much pleasure she takes from Judgment Citys restaurants.)
This is Streep at her movie-star peak.
Were still in love with her.
Decades later, her singing of God Bless America at the end remains an all-time highlight in her career.
Streep does everything here.
Shes mournful, shes sexy, shes defeated, shes destroyed, shes resilient.
(She even does her best accent.)
And know this: You will cry.
(The scene from the title should come with a Surgeon Generals warning.)
Streep has shown throughout her career that she can do anything.
In this movie, she does it all.
