Had the potential to be vicious, but missed the mark

Rating: 4/10 (25 July 2006)

Now, I will preface my review by stating:
1. I have never read the book nor will I ever 2. This was the only film currently in release that I could take my 65 year old mother to w/o offending her as well as boring me to death, so it was a compromise, not my first, second, or third choice.
What I did like was that Meryl Streep's character wasn't a screamer. That was about it. I was hoping the film would be more satirical and spoof what is superficial about the fashion industry. Instead it was almost a love letter to it. This didn't make sense to me; the characters who clearly live for fashion are absolutely miserable and appear to draw no pleasure from what they do. You hear stories of personal sacrifice from the characters to do what they love, but see little to no payoff in terms of personal satisfaction for them. I was waiting for the main character to simply ask, "Why do you bother to put yourself through this?" of anyone. I would have loved to have seen more of the politics of both the magazine and the industry and less of the so-called personal growth of the main character. It's nothing you haven't seen in an episode of Mary Tyler Moore.
At matinée prices, this is worth the 2 hours of air conditioning, if you bring your own snacks.