The 68-year-old star jokingly gave it back to Hanks, saying if anyone was high maintenance it was the actor himself, reported E! News.
"Just check the amount of time he took in hair and makeup and how much I did, and you'll find out who's high maintenance," Streep quipped at the premiere of the Steven Spielberg film in Washington D C.
She added, "By the way, the movie is dedicated to Nora Ephron, who claims that phrase - high maintenance - as her own."
At one point in the movie, Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) tells Sally Albright (Meg Ryan), "There are two kinds of women: high maintenance and low maintenance."
Both Streep and Hanks have worked with the screenwriter in films such as "Julie and Julia", and "You've Got Mail" respectively, among others.
The "Sully" actor had playfully called Streep "high maintenance" after host Stephen Colbert asked him to share his thoughts about working with her for the first time.