My Year with Meryl Streep: Ironweed (1987)
A look at the second and final pairing of Meryl and Jack Nicholson on film!
I recently spent a whole year watching a Meryl Streep film every week, and I thought I’d share with you some of the reviews I wrote for her many classic films!
Ironweed (1987)
If Plenty was slow, Out of Africa was overlong, and Heartburn was disappointing, Ironweed has to be considered one of the most downbeat and depressing films of Meryl’s career. Though well-acted by Meryl and especially Jack Nicholson, in a rare non-showy starring role, Ironweed is a miserable viewing experience — slow, overlong, and disappointing, all in the same movie. While the film received acclaim upon its release in 1987 — Meryl and Nicholson both received Academy Award nominations (her seventh, his ninth) — it is ultimately a head-scratchingly dull experience with only the occasional fleeting moment that draws you in.
Unlike their previous film Heartburn, Ironweed is much more Nicholson’s movie than it is Meryl’s. It opens…
