"Virtuoso", "translucent", and "compelling" were among the words used by US movie critics to describe Streep's turn as Britain's polarising, and only female, prime minister.
"Is there anything that Meryl Streep can't do as an actress? One can only marvel at her virtuoso performance as Britain's Margaret Thatcher," said Rolling Stone reviewer Peter Travers.
The Iron Lady, in which Streep plays Thatcher both as a rising politician and as a confused, elderly woman looking back on her 1979-90 period in office, has already opened in New York and Los Angeles.
Streep, 62, already has a record 16 Academy Award acting nominations. But she has won the Oscar only twice, for Kramer vs Kramer in 1979 and Sophie's Choice in 1982.
Her turn as Thatcher has put her on the short-list for Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in January, ahead of the Oscar nominations announcement on January 26.
Time magazine's Richard Corliss called Streep's performance as Thatcher, who is now 86, "a triumph"; Leah Rozen, writing for TheWrap.com, said Streep was "astonishingly accurate in mimicking the look, voice, gait and mannerisms of her real life character."
However, the movie itself won fewer fans, scoring a 63 per cent positive rating on movie aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.
New York Magazine's David Edelstein described the film as "shallow but satisfying, largely because of Meryl Streep and her big fake English teeth and gift for using mimicry as a means of achieving empathy."
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