In which Miss A.Hathaway goes from Annie Hall to Jerry Hall........

Rating: 4/10 (27 April 2009)

Miss Hathaway gives a spot - on imitation of the young Diane Keaton in this Selznickian take on the old "Faust" theme.I almost expected her to say "Well,la - di - da!",certainly the temptation to have done so must have been great.Miss Streep as the devil called "Priestly" (well, la - di - da indeed)seduces innocent young wannabe journo away from her avowed intent to fight for truth,justice and the American Way,and tempts her with the lure of Prada and Jimmy Choos. In the weird somewhat perverse world of high fashion where supermodels - like Premier League footballers - seem to be above the law,the values appear to be those of bling and conspicuous consumption.Vacuous anorexic women are fawned over and the tabloids hover with all the grace of hyenas fighting over a rotting corpse. Why the presumably intelligent Northwestern alumna would want to get involved in this incestuous,self - perpetuating,preposterous so -called industry is beyond my feeble imagination,but get involved she does. She very quickly changes from Annie Hall to Jerry Hall. I would tentatively suggest that most male viewers would prefer her as the former rather than the latter. Because this is not actually a true story,she reverts back to Annie in the end and is saved from eternal damnation - phew. Miss Streep - unaccountably nominated for an Oscar - seems barely alive for much of the movie.The only performance that could not have been equalled by Pixar Animation is that of Miss Blunt as Miss Streep's P.A. She alone has the stuff of humanity. As a Brit OAP I doubt I belong to the demographic the producers were aiming at.Just as well,really.