Meryl Streep: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

...And 5 That Sucked

5. The Chief Elder €“ The Giver (2014)

Like many of the actors that appear in the 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked articles €“ including, notably, her Doubt co-star Phillip Seymour Hoffman €“ Meryl Streep doesn't often give genuinely bad performances. She doesn't really have it in her. Regardless of the project, she will always give it her all, and always give a performance at the height of her considerable abilities. So, really, the question is about which projects she has been involved with the really didn't deserve those considerable abilities, or else didn't much benefit from them. That can easily be said of last year's The Giver, the long-awaited adaptation of the classic young adult novel that co-starred Jeff Bridges. Streep just didn't have a whole lot to do. The story of a dystopian future where humanity's traumatic past has been wiped, but for a Receiver Of Memory who thus advises society on the best courses of action based on their forgotten history, is a strong one. But the film fell flat on its face by all reports, with Streep called on to do nothing but be wise and old.