Ok, hear me out, because I know this is going to be a tough sell. There's this line in The Office, where Michael Scott tells the camera, "Daddy is the best actor there is, daddy is Meryl Streep." Well, I want to submit Meryl Streep's performance in Mamma Mia!. Yes, I realize that we don't expect anything but absolutely professionalism and superiority from good old Meryl, but she still managed to surprise me. She sings quite a bit in A Prairie Home Companion, but something about seeing her in this musical that seemed fresh and awesome. She puts so much into each musical performance, and she is clearly head-and-shoulders above the rest of the case, even though others are quite good as well. Everything about the "Mamma Mia!" rooftop sequence is fun and full of energy, and when she has her big moment with "The Winner Takes it All," it's the emotional center of the whole film. When she is doing the musical numbers, the director doesn't cut away from her very often, instead keeping the camera right on her in long take shots. The director has Meryl Streep giving a great performance, and he's smart to not distract from that with excessive cuts. So for all those reasons, but mostly for how well she portrays emotion in those musical scenes.