Meryl Streep probably didn't even have to read the script of the biopic "The Iron Lady" before saying, "Yes!" What actress of Streep's caliber wouldn't love to play Margaret Thatcher, prime minister of the United Kingdom who served for 11 years, and the first woman ever to be elected as head of government in the West?

And while there's plenty for Streep to sink her teeth into, based on the character alone, the script lacks the depth that could've turned this into not just a Streep performance, but the be-all of her career. Still, it's pretty darn close.

Described as a "reckoning with the past as (Thatcher) sees it," the film is a series of flashbacks as we view the former prime minister taunted by dementia, trying to stay grounded in the present. Thatcher in real life is 87.

The crisis at the opening is that the former prime minister has gone out unaccompanied to get milk at the grocery store, but with her current state of mind and her previous infamy, her handlers are grateful when she arrives back to her flat safely. Much screen time is spent on episodes of Streep as Thatcher battling hallucinatory visions of her dead husband, Denis (played with upbeat hilarity by James Broadbent), ping ponging the character from past to present and back again. Yet, it only serves as a distraction, creating a tug of war for the viewer who will long for more insight into the rise of grocer's daughter Margaret Roberts to the dedicated public servant Margaret Thatcher.

Key points that shaped Thatcher's political career are glossed over, including her acceptance to Oxford -- the film acknowledges her receiving an acceptance letter, and then leaves the rest behind. It was her studies in chemistry there and her scientific training which influenced much of her thinking, and her training as a lawyer, specializing in taxation, neither of which are given much credence here.

Tense moments present in the film -- her unpopular decision about military action in the Falklands and an assassination attempt by the Irish Republican Army while she prepared for a speech at a hotel -- are some of the most well acted and gripping, yet the script fails to give Streep the chance to venture into emotionally deep territory. There's no doubt how the "fictional" Thatcher feels when she's confused in the present, but during the high points of her career, the story fails to tackle those sentiments.
Even with a lopsided script, Streep will no doubt win her third Best Oscar actress for her consummate portrayal of Thatcher. This actress wasn't going to let an opportunity pass her by. Yet, disappointingly, "The Iron Lady" misses its mark in spite of Streep, dwelling in ageism, and intent on showing us that even the most iron willed get old and weak no matter how much they are against it.

"It used to be about trying to do something. Now it's about trying to be someone," the actress as the elderly Thatcher says with vigor. What Thatcher did was create history; if only "The Iron Lady" possessed the same grandeur.