Many would certainly agree with the argument that Meryl Streep is one of the best actor ever. Having made her stage debut in 1975, the Yale Faculty of Drama alum already had two Oscar nominations to her title by 1980, even profitable the Greatest Supporting Actress award for “Kramer vs. Kramer.” You’ll be able to’t get a extra auspicious begin in Hollywood than that, and to Streep’s credit score, she managed to take care of her momentum all through the subsequent decade, receiving an additional six Oscar nominations and scoring a Greatest Actress win for 1982’s “Sophie’s Selection.” That is a outstanding achievement contemplating the actress had made her function movie debut simply 5 years prior in 1977’s “Julia.”
Maybe the one factor extra spectacular than Streep’s virtually instantaneous domination of Hollywood is the truth that she has remained simply as esteemed as her profession performed out. Virtually 50 years after her movie debut, Streep continues to be one of the revered actors within the recreation, and continues to work on the age of 75, most lately taking part in the recurring function of Loretta Durkin in Hulu’s “Solely Murders within the Constructing,” for which she acquired an Emmy nomination in 2024.
So, in a profession as distinguished as this, you may assume it unattainable to call Streep’s greatest undertaking. However that is the place Rotten Tomatoes is available in. The location has already pronounced on a number of display legends, declaring Denzel Washington’s greatest movie to be 1989’s “Glory” and Steven Spielberg’s best effort to be “E.T. The Further-Terrestrial.” Now, it is Streep’s flip to face the Tomatometer, which has decided that she has appeared in a single movie with a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes rating.
Meryl Streep’s highest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is not all the time probably the most dependable supply in relation to figuring out the standard of movie and TV. That is the positioning that claims there are solely two good sci-fi films within the historical past of cinema. However that does not imply the Tomatometer cannot be useful as a fast level of reference when making an attempt to resolve what the heck to look at in an age the place actually all the pieces ever made is out there to stream.
With that out of the way in which, we come to Meryl Streep’s highest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes: 1991’s “Defending your Life.” Written and directed by Albert Brooks, this romantic comedy additionally starred Brooks as promoting govt Daniel Miller, who after perishing in a automotive accident is shipped to the celestial equal of a holding space generally known as Judgment Metropolis. Whereas he awaits the judges’ determination on whether or not he’ll transfer on to the subsequent part of the afterlife or have his soul returned to earth to be able to overcome his fears, he meets Julia (Streep), a lady who seemingly led an exemplary existence on earth. Over the course of their time collectively in Judgment Metropolis, the 2 fall in love, which finally proves to be the very factor that Miller wanted to overcome his fears.
Such a narrative apparently makes for a near-perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the place “Defending your Life” at present enjoys a 98% score primarily based on 43 opinions. What’s extra, 100% of the so-called “high critics” appreciated the movie, which acquired a 7 out of 10 common score primarily based on the precise grades/stars awarded by reviewers. In his three-and-a-half star evaluate, Roger Ebert wrote that the movie “is humorous in a heat, fuzzy method, and it has a wonderfully passable ending,” whereas the Washington Put up‘s Desson Howe praised Streep for “soften[ing] her thespian exoskeleton for a surprisingly partaking efficiency.”
Whereas many may quibble with Rotten Tomatoes’ decide for Streep’s greatest movie, then, there isn’t any denying “Defending your Life” gave the actress an opportunity to show her spectacular vary, and stays yet one more stellar entry in her outstanding filmography.
