The Best Meryl Streep Movies, Ranked

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Keith Langston

Keith Langston

JustWatch Editor

Meryl Streep has been called the most accomplished actress in cinematic history. At the time of writing, she holds numerous Guinness World Records including Most Oscar Nominations in History (she has 21) and Most Golden Globe Nominations in History (she has 33). She’s won 3 Oscars and 9 Golden Globes - which has her tied for the most Golden Globe-winning actor in history alongside Tom Hanks and Barbra Streisand. Read on to learn more about her celebrated filmography and find out where to stream her best movies online using platforms like Prime Video and more!

Meryl Streep is an acting powerhouse who has starred in countless films that are both critically lauded and box office hits. That makes ranking her “best” movies a bit hard since she rarely ever stars in a dud. But even among her lofty and lengthy filmography, there are some movies that stand out more than others.

From campy comedies like The Devil Wears Prada.

Based on the novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger (and allegedly about Vogue’s Anna Wintour), The Devil Wears Prada saw Streep portray the successful magazine editor Miranda Priestly. Cold and demanding on the outside, but broken and hardened on the inside, Streep created a complex character that is both absolutely iconic and completely tragic at the same time. She rightly was nominated for an Oscar for the role and won a Golden Globe.

And Meryl Streep wasn’t the only one delivering stand-out performances in the film. ing her were Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt in her first major role – and they all delivered stand-out performances, making every single scene in The Devil Wears Prada flawless.

Where to watch the best Meryl Streep movies online

Read on to discover Meryl Streep's 15 best movies. From portraying a selfish and corrupt president to a fictionalized version of Carrie Fisher, here are Meryl Streep’s 15 best films and where to watch them streaming online right now!

  1. The Devil Wears Prada

    The Devil Wears Prada

    2006

    # 1

    Andy moves to New York to work in the fashion industry. Her boss is extremely demanding, cruel and won't let her succeed if she doesn't fit into the high class elegant look of their magazine.

  2. Sophie's Choice

    Sophie's Choice

    1982

    # 2

    Stingo, a young writer, moves to Brooklyn in 1947 to begin work on his first novel. As he becomes friendly with Sophie and her lover Nathan, he learns that she is a Holocaust survivor. Flashbacks reveal her harrowing story, from pre-war prosperity to Auschwitz. In the present, Sophie and Nathan's relationship increasingly unravels as Stingo grows closer to Sophie and Nathan's fragile mental state becomes ever more apparent.

  3. The Post

    The Post

    2017

    # 3

    A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to an unprecedented battle between journalist and government. Inspired by true events.

  4. Doubt

    Doubt

    2008

    # 4

    In 1964 Bronx, two Catholic school nuns question the new priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled African-American student.

  5. The Deer Hunter

    The Deer Hunter

    1978

    # 5

    A group of working-class friends decide to enlist in the Army during the Vietnam War and finds it to be hellish chaos -- not the noble venture they imagined. Before they left, Steven married his pregnant girlfriend -- and Michael and Nick were in love with the same woman. But all three are different men upon their return.

  6. Adaptation.

    Adaptation.

    2002

    # 6

    Charlie Kaufman is a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald. While struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief," by Susan Orlean, Kaufman's life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman, Orlean's book, become strangely intertwined as each one's search for ion collides with the others'.

  7. August: Osage County

    August: Osage County

    2013

    # 7

    An intense look at the lives of the strong-willed daughters of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional mother who raised them.

  8. Out of Africa

    Out of Africa

    1985

    # 8

    Tells the life story of Danish author Karen Blixen, who at the beginning of the 20th century moved to Africa to build a new life for herself. The film is based on her 1937 autobiographical novel.

  9. Postcards from the Edge

    # 9

    Substance-addicted Hollywood actress, Suzanne Vale is on the skids. After a spell at a detox centre her film company insists as a condition of continuing to employ her that she live with her mother, herself once a star and now a champion drinker. Such a set-up is bad news for Suzanne who has struggled for years to get out of her mother's shadow, and who still treats her like a child. Despite these and other problems, Suzanne begins to see the funny side of her situation, and also realises that not only do daughters have mothers—mothers do too.

  10. Mamma Mia!

    Mamma Mia!

    2008

    # 10

    A spirited young bride-to-be living with her single mother on a small Greek island secretly invites three of her mother's ex-boyfriends in hope of finding her biological father to walk her down the aisle.

  11. The Hours

    The Hours

    2002

    # 11

    The story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.

  12. Kramer vs. Kramer

    Kramer vs. Kramer

    1979

    # 12

    Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.

  13. The Bridges of Madison County

    # 13

    Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife sca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.

  14. Don't Look Up

    Don't Look Up

    2021

    # 14

    Two astronomers go on a media tour to warn humankind of a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth. The response from a distracted world: Meh.

  15. Death Becomes Her

    Death Becomes Her

    1992

    # 15

    Madeline is married to Ernest, who was once arch-rival Helen's fiance. After recovering from a mental breakdown, Helen vows to kill Madeline and steal back Ernest. Unfortunately for everyone, the introduction of a magic potion causes things to be a great deal more complicated than a mere murder plot.