Stanley Kauffmann

“The performances are better than the script because they are unspottily good…. And the Other Woman is played by Meryl Streep, who could bring new truth to Stella Dallas. (That is not a suggestion, please.) Here Streep is a smart Louisiana labor lawyer, raised in a political family, rich and funny and sexy. To compare this performance only with her work in The Deer Hunter and Manhattan is to see that a) she has a stunning talent; b) she has a vivid personality; and c) there is no need to suspend critical judgment of her acting just because it takes place on film and because her film personality is a part of her effect.

“Streep is especially lucky here to be photographed by Adam Holender, who did Midnight Cowboy, among others, and who lights her just a bit better than was done even in the two films cited above. Her beauty is not "easy" for the camera: it's there, but it has to be revealed. Holender succeeds….”

Stanley Kauffmann
New Republic, August 25 ?, 1979