The Devil Wears Prada (30 June 2006)
directed by David Frankel
starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Adrian Grenier, Tracie Thoms, Rich Sommer, Simon Baker
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MPAA rating: Studio: 20th Century Fox, Peninsula Films Script: Aline Brosh McKenna Based on the book by: Lauren Weisberger Music: Theodore Shapiro Running time: 109 minutes Tags: Comedy; Drama; fashion; New York City; novel adaptation; Paris Tactical strength: [6/10]
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for some sensuality
Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) has never read a single issue of the high-fashion magazine Runway but puts in her application anyway as an administrative assistant. Andy would rather work as a journalist, but she can't seem to land a job in her chosen career. Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) runs Runway with an iron-fist, and she decides to hire Andy as a second assistant since her previous assistants -- chosen for their fashion sense -- have dismally failed Miranda's severe expectations. At first Andy only takes her job half-heartedly, but eventually decides she wants to earn Miranda's respect. Andy changes from her prep-school skirt-n-sweater outfits to clothes from the vast Runway Closets, and aided by fashion editor Nigel (Stanley Tucci), she makes a complete transformation in her appearance. Andy, through her dedication and competence, earns Miranda's respect and even overshadows her senior assistant Emily (Emily Blunt). But in dedicating herself to her job, Andy doesn't have any time for her boyfriend or her social network. Everything comes to a crisis for Andy in Paris, where she must decide if she wants to leave her old social life behind and dedicate herself to the life of high fashion or if she will give up the high life and return to journalism and her old friends.
Interestingly, The Devil Wears Prada propagates two pop-culture memes at the same time. First, we have a do your best and succeed story. Once Andy dedicates herself totally to her job, she achieves greater acceptance and success than she could have at first even imagined. Often, this meme functions as the sole message in a movie, but we have a conflicting pop-culture message broadcast throughout The Devil Wears Prada: stay true to yourself. Andy graduated from Northwestern University in journalism, and to achieve ultimate happiness, pop-culture says you should do what you love. So as a punishment for her success at Runway, Andy's social life suffers. We have an implied promise that if Andy had chosen a journalism job from the beginning, that her social network could have remained intact. So in this case, working hard at the wrong thing might lead to success, but not happiness.
Anne Hathaway does a good job portraying the stress at taking a new job with a demanding boss, but Meryl Streep steals the show. Streep can convey with a single look what might take an entire soliloquy from another actor, and in The Devil Wears Prada, you believe Streep's character controls everything around her. As the movie portrays, a single look from Miranda can cause a designer to change his entire product line. At the end of the movie, Miranda gives Andy a single look, but with Strep's portrayal, we don't need anything more, at least from Miranda.
So I recommend seeing The Devil Wears Prada to watch Streep's amazing performance, but don't expect much from the emaciated storyline -- thin as a Runway model and with about the same I.Q.
