Tuesday, Dec. 08, 2009
4. Meryl Streep as Julia Child in Julie & Julia
In Streep's long and laureled career, this has been her parody decade. After playing stately or turbulent dramatic heroines for ages, she went camp. She binged on imperious harridans, some icily comic (The Manchurian Candidate, The Devil Wears Prada), some so stridently manic (Mamma Mia!, Doubt) they became camp sights. Playing the grand, flutey Julia Child in Nora Ephron's charming double-bio-pic might have stranded Streep in grotesque impersonation. Quelle surprise! she mixed the ingredients of comedy and character to cook up... Ahh, enough with the food metaphors. Under the fun was a warm human being, Count on her to win another Best Actress Oscar nomination — or, as it's called at the Academy, the Meryl Streep Award.