State of the Art. Pauline Kael.

Busybody

P106 Meryl Streep imitates raunchiness meticulously-exquisitely. Ahe does a whole lot of little things with her hands and her body; shes certainly out to prove that shes physical, and she seems more free here ian in her other starring roles. But she hasn;t got the craving to take that bite. [...] With Streep, we just obsever how accomplished she is. She chews gum and talks iwth a twang; she tousles her shag-cut brown hari; she hugs herself; she eyes a man, her heads atg an angle. She has the external details of Okie bad girl down pat, but something is not quite right. She has no natural vitality; shes like a replicant- all shtick. P108 [/...]shes fine-boned and fragile- a doomed, despondent woman with many an opportunit to smile mistily through incipient tears. 111: But in her starring perfeormances she has been giving us artificial creations. She deossnt seem to know how to draw on herself; she hasnt yet released an innate personality on the screen. Hits? Postcards from the Edge in Movie Love- Complete Reviews 1988- 1991 .Dutton, ny,1991 273: Meryl Streep just about always seems miscast.[...] In Postcards from the Edge, shes witty and resourceful, yet every expression is eerily off, not quite human. [...] Streep has a genius from miicry: shes imitationg a country and Western singer singing. 274: distant, emotionally atonal.