The Hopefuls

[Penelope]

Ok. I'll admit she's a better actress than Hilary Swank.

[99-1100896887]

...AND if she plays the character as it was written, great! So many of you carp when an actor takes liberties.

[99-1100896887]

Oh, come on! None of you naysayers have as much acting talent in your little fingers than Streep at her worst. And I have yet to see that worst.

[dreaMaker]

I may be one of the few people who would be happy if Meryl Streep never received another oscar nomination. I've always found her a distractingly mechanical actress - mannered in the worst possible way, with little natural charm. I do like her very much in A Cry in the Dark, but otherwise her much lauded 80s run does little to nothing for me - and that includes her (IMO) wildly overpraised performance in Sophie's Choice.

Streep's best performances, in my mind, have usually come when she lets her hair down just a little. She was fine in Manhattan, terrific in Defending Your Life, and I loved her in the otherwise poor Adaptation. The Devil Wears Prada sounds like it could be another such performance - but I won't be holding my breath until its released over here.

Oh, puhleaseee... shut up :*

[dreaMaker]

I think Hans Zimmer and his score for The Da Vinci Code should be considered...

[VanHelsing]

eric, nope, not surprised. i like her in DBH as well.

[Eric]

My two favorite Streep performances: Death Becomes Her and She-Devil.

Is anyone surprised?

[The Original BJ]

Penelope, I agree with you half-way. Streep is aces in The Devil Wears Prada . . . but the role is all on the page, and any strong actress her age, especially the ones you've listed, could have done equally fine work. But I'll disagree with your assessment that her underplaying is actually overacting. I find it odd that the actress's critics always seem to be finding new ways to carp—now her subtlety is mannered!

And Streep is supporting. But personally, I'd rather see her nab a nomination for her wonderful work in A Prairie Home Companion than for her sharp but far less idiosyncratic turn in Prada.

[Mister Tee]

I may be one of the few people who would be happy if Meryl Streep never received another oscar nomination. I've always found her a distractingly mechanical

rudeboy, are you kidding? Maybe it's just the circles in which I travel, but that complaint about Streep isn't rare; I've been hearing it since the early 80s. Granted there's a critical conventional wisdom that Streep is an acting goddess, but it's always been my impression that "lifeless technician" is a widely held view.

I vacillate on Streep. She doesn't, in general, have much warmth, which can help sustain an actor's reputation through lesser movies (as it has for me with, say, Debra Winger, Michelle Pfeiffer, Emily Watson). I found, for instance, Streep's French Lieutenant's Woman performance drab and offputting. But often I go to see her work and am surprised at how much she brings to a role; I've forgotten about her strengths. The Music of the Heart nomination was, of course, ludicrously undeserved (Witherspoon, or Weaver in Map of the World, were vastly more deserving). But I think other recent nods -- Bridges, True Thing, Adaptation -- were completely merited. And I, too, wold have gone for her in The Hours over Hayek in Frida (or even Kidman in Hours).

[rudeboy]

I may be one of the few people who would be happy if Meryl Streep never received another oscar nomination. I've always found her a distractingly mechanical actress - mannered in the worst possible way, with little natural charm. I do like her very much in A Cry in the Dark, but otherwise her much lauded 80s run does little to nothing for me - and that includes her (IMO) wildly overpraised performance in Sophie's Choice.

Streep's best performances, in my mind, have usually come when she lets her hair down just a little. She was fine in Manhattan, terrific in Defending Your Life, and I loved her in the otherwise poor Adaptation. The Devil Wears Prada sounds like it could be another such performance - but I won't be holding my breath until its released over here.

[Hustler]

Anyway, it´s gonna be exciting to see Streep back being nominated.

[Nik]

Sure, she’s coasted into nominations in the past when there were more deserving performances in the field (Music of the Heart over Witherspoon in Election, comes to mind).

Oh I'd forgotten about that one. I kept confusing it with "One True Thing" - which wasn't bad at all (if not less deserving than other potentials that year - it was also one of the few times I could stand Renee Zellwegger). But Music of the Heart? What on earth were they thinking?? Forget Witherspoon. What about Celia Roth in All About My Mother? Heck, Natalie Portman in Anywhere But Here was better!

And oddly enough in 1996 they found space for Kristen Scott Thomas but overlooked Streep for her beautiful work in "Marvin's Room." Thank goodness Keaton was at least recognized for that film but I still think "Marvin's Room" was by far Streep's best performance in the 90's.

[Penelope]

Sorry, flipp, but this is one time where I think the argument that anyone coulda played this role holds true. Faye Dunaway, Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange, any one in that age range coulda done just as well as Streep; indeed, the fact the Streep deliberately "underplays" the role is, in one of those fascinating conundrums, an example of overacting. Sure, her timing is good, but this is a tired cliche of a character and she finds nothing new here.

Conversely, Blunt's role was somewhat refreshing to me, and she nailed it by providing not only expert comic line readings, but digging down to provide an emotional depth that was missing from most of the other cast members, particularly Hathaway, who was likable but seemingly adrift.

[flipp525]

I hate the notion that Meryl Streep has to be “stealing someone else’s spot” in order to get a nomination these days. Sure, she’s coasted into nominations in the past when there were more deserving performances in the field (Music of the Heart over Witherspoon in Election, comes to mind). But, with The Devil Wears Prada, this is one case where she’s clearly stolen the entire film right out from under all the other performers. It’s just not as good when she’s not on the screen and she works it all the way in her Manolos. And for the record, I would much rather have had her nominated for The Hours than, say, Salma Hayek for Frida.

Good reference, Mister Tee. The Working Girl comparison works with the Weaver/Cusack scenario. Just as a point of contrast, I think that Griffiths makes a much bigger impression than Anne Hathaway, so we don’t have that factor to make an entirely comparable correlation.

I would love to see this performance nominated in the supporting category come nomination morning, if only to have the Academy recognize a truly delicious, comedic turn. This is one year that Meryl's not on auto-pilot, cruising into the accolades simply because she’s La Streep.

[Mister Tee]

Penelope, a few observations (all made without seeing the film):

The extraordinarily strong opening weekend for Prada (26.8 million in today's estimate) makes Streep (maybe Tucci and Blunt as well) a formidable contender. There are precious few studio films yielding acting nominations these days, and when a candidate comes along that the public actually embraces, Academy tendency has been to grab hold (case in point: Witherspoon last year).

Granted, a truly strong field would diminish Streep's opportunity (esp. given Oscar resistance to comedy). But suppose the field more resembled last year. Who besides Witherspoon would have qualified ahead of Streep?

Finally, your account brought to mind an analogy that probably more people ought to be making: Working Girl. There, too, the bitch boss was played by a major name in a borderline supporting role, and this actress seemed to block off attention to a genuine comic character actress -- in that case, Joan Cusack, who looked wonderful even from the trailer, but who got essentially no mention until the day she showed up as a surprise Oscar nominee.