Pointless

Rating: 3/10 (18 October 2006)

Against my better judgment I watched The Devil Wears Prada. Hoping that it was a proper comedic satire on the fashion industry. But it was just another completely toothless Hollywood hot air balloon.
What we have is an intelligent girl who should know better than to get involved in the industry of supreme shallowness, and she basically eats it up. Like just another bimbo she gets co-opted by the rat race and ends up defending, and relating to, the clearly evil dragon lady editor. That's the most pathetic excuse for a sob story I've ever seen.
So are we supposed to cheer when our main girl finally, after her life has fallen to pieces, sees through the glamour facade and pulls out of it just in time to pursue the life she *really* wants? Puh-lease! Stupid plastered-on, half-hearted happy ending. She didn't *really* learn anything, and neither does the audience.
Everything in this movie is totally cliché. Including that "intellectual" circle of friends she meets regularly at the café. None of it rings true at any time.
This movie works as only one thing: an analogy to Anne Hathaway's Hollywood career. A smart, funny, talented actress is chewed up by ridiculous, brainless Hollywood crap and spat out as just another run-of-the-mill pretty face. She should be better than that. I hope she's not totally ruined yet, but that's for the future to show.
3 out of 10.