To Be or Not To Be Meryl Streep

With a boatload of awards and honours, Meryl Streep is unquestionably the leading actor of her generation; critics and public have placed her high on the pedestal of adulation and rightly so in most cases. However, I’m heartened to know that she does have feet of clay and can make some stinker movies. In the same year that Streep nails the role of Julia Child in her Oscar-nominated performance for “Julie and Julia”, she falls flat in “It’s Complicated”.

What’s the difference, How can she mesmerize us with a powerful performance in “Doubt” and irritate us with the overblown “Mama Mia”, Is this the same actress who stunned us with “Sophie’s Choice”, a movie I can’t make myself watch again, And is she the same actress who co-starred with Rosanne Barr in “She-Devil”.

Known for her attention to detail (she’s been called a perfectionist) as well as her ability to pick up an accent, Streep has an uncanny ability to perform better when she portrays real people, such as Julia Child, Karen Silkwood (“Silkwood”), Karen Blixen (“Out of Africa”), and Ethel Rosenberg (“Angels in America”).

Although the movie received several award nominations, “It’s Complicated” is a mere trifle for Streep and her co-stars Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Boosted by its holiday release in December 2009, the film attracted a hungry audience anxious for a romantic comedy. Streep plays a likeable middle-aged divorcée who hooks up with her ex-husband (Baldwin) at the same time she becomes involved with her architect.

As always Streep makes the movie better than it deserves to be.