A Vehicle for Streep That Breaks Down Every Few Minutes

Rating: 3/10 (2 January 2007)

As many people will tell you, Meryl Streep is one of the best actresses ever to be recorded on film. And I'm not going to disagree with that opinion. In fact, I wholeheartedly support it. In the case of "The Devil Wears Prada", it seems as though the original novel, written by Lauren Weisberger, was written for Ms. Streep. The character of Miranda Priestly is so perfect for Ms. Streep, it's scary. And, yes, this is to say that Ms. Streep pulls off the performance of her perfect-fit character with seemingly great ease, and a lot of brilliance. Anne Hathaway, who gets second billing, is Priestly's new hire, a bright-eyed young woman who knows nothing about fashion, but applies for an internship at Miranda Priestly's magazine (go figure.) The film sputters and starts, and it seems as though all the juciest writing has been saved for Ms. Streep, and everyone else gets the flip-side of the coin. The scenes that Ms. Streep is not in (about half) are tearjerkingly bad; you just can't wait for Miranda to return and steal the show again. Stanley Tucci turns in a superb performance as gay fashonista Nigel, who befriends and helps Andy, Ms. Hathaway's character. Entourage's Adrian Grenier is sleepy and dull as the token boyfriend, and he and Ms. Hathaway have an almost-negative amount of chemistry on-screen. The film's plot is almost nonexistent, and is almost immaturish in it's lack of structure and pacing, from its director, David Frankel (whom I hold in high regard for his helming of Part 9 of "Band of Brothers"). To sum it up, Ms. Hathaway is upstaged by Tucci and Streep, even when they are not on screen. And that's about the highest praise I can give to any performance.