The 10 Funniest Female Performances From the Past 5 Years

5. Leslie Mann as Debbie in Funny People

Her work in Knocked Up is equally fulgent, but Leslie Mann's turn in Funny People -- where she tries on every accent from Jamaican to British to cockney in one amazing scene -- reminds us of her signature character dichotomy: pragmatism mixed with utter loopiness.

4. Emma Stone as Olive Penderghast in Easy A

For as unassuming a pleasure as Easy A is, it's just the movie we needed during this year's thoroughly laugh-free award season -- even if its Hester Prynne reference and lingo-heavy dialogue are almost definitively contrived. Emma Stone takes the cynical antihero of Olive Pendergrass and makes her a relatable -- albeit gorgeous -- thief of imaginary v-cards everywhere. I'll never think of Natasha Bedingfield's "Pocketful of Sunshine" the same way again.

3. Anna Faris as Jane F. in Smiley Face

As a film? Smiley Face? Underwhelms. But as a vehicle for Anna Faris to ride a pot-high to the zaniest, stupidest observations in film over the past half-decade? Gregg Araki's Smiley Face shines. Faris may have won a greater (and more universally adoring) audience with The House Bunny, but here she explores the magical mystery of marijuana with little pretense or restraint. Comedy in its purest, most therapeutically ingestible form.

2. Ellen Page as Juno MacGuff in Juno

Juno MacGuff is a mesmerizing character, and her greatest attribute somehow remains her least discussed: She is unbelievably -- though believably! -- funny. High- schoolers are so casually misrepresented on the silver screen that Diablo Cody's pensive burnout teen struck some as possessing a Mensa-level sophistication. That begs the question: What's the problem with having a Mensa-level sophistication? Really, Juno just possesses her own sensibility, which is more startling than any otherworldly intelligence and truer to real high-schoolers. Ellen Page's performance is the breakout comic role of the past decade, and in no time at all she's become the obvious choice for directors ranging from Christopher Nolan to (and we called it!) Woody Allen.

1. Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada

It's a role that would read as campy Disney fluff without proper embodiment, but to say Meryl Streep transforms The Devil Wears Prada the minute she struts onscreen in bordello-red heels is an understatement. As Runway magazine's unapproachable doyenne Miranda Priestly, Streep adds intelligence, ferocity, and terror to another otherwise tame jaunt into the life of a downtrodden intern (Anne Hathaway). Streep is so grim, so poised, and so effective as an Anna Wintour proxy that you can't help but quake at her immense brio -- and crack up at her austere totalitarianism.

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