Meryl Streep commenting that she played it on "automatic pilot". She performed the role of Katherine in "The Taming of the Shrew" for Shakespeare in the Park, and also played a supporting role in "Manhattan" (1979) for Woody Allen. Streep later said that Allen did not provide her with a complete script, giving her only the six pages of her own scenes, and did not permit her to improvise a word of her dialogue. In the drama "Kramer vs. Kramer", Streep was cast opposite Dustin Hoffman as an unhappily married woman who abandons her husband and child. Streep thought that the script
Diane Keaton again centered on her character's unimportance in the film. "The Washington Post" wrote: "Even though she is authoritative in the role, Keaton suffers tremendously from having no real function except to nag Michael for his past sins." In 1993, Keaton starred in "Manhattan Murder Mystery", her first major film role in a Woody Allen film since 1979, having made a cameo in 1987's "Radio Days". Her part was originally intended for Mia Farrow, but Farrow dropped out of the project after her split with Allen. Todd McCarthy of "Variety" commended her performance, writing that she "nicely handles her sometimes buffoonish