Froth with a bite

Rating: 8/10 (1 July 2006)

This is a delightful piece of froth; actually it's froth with a bite. The fashion-clueless journalism major gets a job as an assistant to the irascible editor of the world's foremost fashion mag, and finds she must make some tricky ethical decisions--tricky in the sense that there are no obvious right or wrong answers--and she never has much leisure in which to weigh her options. She can't even depend on her friends for advice because they have their own agenda: stop working so hard and spend more time with us.
The shining star in this tale is of course Meryl Streep as the high priestess of the fashion world, Miranda Priestly; her flawless comic timing and wonderful facial expressions had the theater audience chuckling most of the evening. Anne Hathaway turned in a nice acting performance as Andy, the sometimes dowdy, sometimes radiantly beautiful young assistant. Stanley Tucci's putdowns were so nasty they were funny; his role as the artistic director Nigel was a masterpiece in eccentricity. And Emily Blunt gave a fine performance, too, as Andy's reluctant and arrogant mentor.
Certainly worth a mention were the wonderful shots of New York City, especially the night views; one side view from deep in the interior was breathtaking (must have been computer enhanced), and a later birdseye view also was nice. Paris received similar treatment--very lovely.
On the way home from the cinema, my granddaughters and I enjoyed rehashing the action; the dilemmas faced by the heroine provided good fodder for a discussion of right and wrong.
My rating: 8/10