The Devil Wears Prada
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 hour, 49 minutes
Directed by: David Frankel
Starring:
Meryl Streep - Miranda Priestly
Anne Hathaway - Andy Sachs
Emily Blunt - Emily
Stanley Tucci - Nigel
Adrian Grenier - Nate
Simon Baker - Christian Thompson
Daniel Sunjata - James Holt
I went into this knowing full-well that it was going to be a flick of the chick-variety. But that’s not always a bad thing. I have movies in my collection that could be described as “chick flicks” and that doesn’t stop them from being enjoyable. Also, I found none of the cast repugnant so that was a plus.
Of course, how anyone could find leading lady Anne Hathaway repulsive is beyond me. In the film she plays Andrea Sachs, a recent Northwestern-grad eager to pursue a career in journalism. Instead she stumbles on to the job that “a million women would kill for,” – 2nd assisstant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), Editor-in-Chief of Bazaar magazine and queen of the fashion world. 
Before you’ve even finished the opening credits, Andrea’s character is mapped from start to finish: she’s a good girl, she loses her values working for Miranda, she regains those values in the end. While I don’t necessarily have a problem with this story, the film makes itself ordinary when it could easily make itself extraordinary by couching itself further into the fashion industry. The best part of the film is Miranda’s monologue about why two belts are different. It shows that Miranda’s not just a queen bitch but someone who is truly the best at what she does and it isn’t just because she’s a wicked person (wicked-bad, not wicked-like-Bostonians-use-it).
But the filmmakers are so busy trying to find new ways for Miranda to be nasty (and they do run out of ideas about two-thirds of the way through the film), that they neglect what makes her world special and it seems like Andrea could be working at PC Weekly: gadgets instead of Gucci.
With the formulaic plot, the cast has to pick up the energy of the film and they do just that. While some critics are already crying Oscar for Streep’s performance, I think it’s good but nowhere near Oscar-worthy as she’s too one-note of a character. Her barbs may be surprising but the fact that she’ll have them ready is not. Hathaway looks more beautiful than ever and along with her performance, I am back in mourning for her dropping out of Judd Apatow’s upcoming flick, Knocked Up. But the real heroes are supporting actor and actress, the always-great Stanley Tucci as assistant editor Nigel and the Emily Blunt as Miranda’s 1st assisstant, Emily. While Andrea and Miranda sit on the extremes of good and evil, Nigel and Emily are both devoured by Miranda’s cruelty, but eventually warm up with Andrea’s influence.
Unfortunately, I never cared enough about the fashion world these characters inhabitied, I had a tough time connecting with the characters who were all about the couture. The performances make this a cute and harmless flick which does its job as Superman-counterprogramming, it’s a bit of a dissapointment as the filmmakers decided hit up the thrift store when all the pretty outfits are staring them right in the face.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
7.1.06