Beyond ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2': 3 Underrated Meryl Streep Movies, Ranked
In case you haven't heard, one of the most anticipated sequels of the year is sashaying into theaters across the world.
Yes, The Devil Wears Prada 2, with original stars Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway returning alongside newcomers Simone Ashley and Lady Gaga, is finally here after endless years of speculation, and the verdict is clear - this sequel is a winner, baby.
If you've already watched it or plan to at some point, you probably have a craving to stream more movies starring Streep. I know I do, which is why I curated a list of the three-time Oscar winner's most underrated films.
From a wild comedy costarring Goldie Hawn to a quiet drama directed by Clint Eastwood, these films showcase Streep's impressive range and prove the New Jersey native can do just about anything - including sharing the screen with Roseanne Barr.
3. ‘She-Devil' (1989)
Filled with campy lines like "NOW a warning" and "Wrinkled, wrinkled little star… hope they never see the scars.," Death Becomes Her is a comedy about the lengths people will go to look young and beautiful. That's even more topical in 2026, when fillers, looksmaxxing and Ozempic are all the rage in Hollywood and even middle America. The film also has some groundbreaking visual effects and a dazzling musical number that has our Meryl sing and dance in a disco musical (!) of Tennessee Williams' classic play, Sweet Bird of Youth. Like that number, Death Becomes Her is brassy, a little chintzy and hilarious from beginning to end.
1. ‘The Bridges of Madison County' (1995)
When it was published in 1992, Robert James Waller's slim novel, The Bridges of Madison County, instantly shot to the top of the bestseller charts and stayed there. It also received a ton of bad reviews, with the consensus being that the story, about a brief affair between a married Italian housewife and a National Geographic photographer in 1960s Iowa, was simplistic, formulaic and just plain bad.
That's why when the feature film adaptation arrived three years later, everyone was shocked - the movie was good, and the lead performance by Meryl Streep was even better. As Francesca Johnson, Streep gets everything right: the Italian accent, the bearing of a devoted housewife stuck in a passionless marriage and the buried passion of a woman still longing to fall in love. Directed by Clint Eastwood, who also stars as the photographer Robert, The Bridges of Madison County is patient, never slow, and always interested in the inner lives of its middle-aged protagonists. It could be Streep's best movie ever, even if The Devil Wears Prada surpasses it as a pop culture landmark.
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This story was originally published May 3, 2026 at 9:15 AM.