I loved this movie

Rating: 9/10 (15 July 2006)

I haven't read the book, but I felt this movie was a home run. I'm sure most can relate to the "boss from hell" who ultimately became the best boss you ever had, the person who motivated you to perform at your best, and the former employer who ended up writing you a kick-ass recommendation.
Meryl Streep was that boss for me. It didn't matter if you'd accomplished 95% of what you were supposed to do; they'd ask about the other 5%. I love that! Streep was brilliant, of course. I also happen to love Hathaway, who I believe has a face meant for screen. In MHO, too, Stanley Tucci can do no wrong. All in all, pitch perfect, with these three.
What I did not like was the facility with which Hathaway's friends dismissed her. Other than her improved make-up and fashion, and annoying habit of answering her cell phone at all hours, I didn't think she changed all that much after working for Miranda. I think she found her stride in an unexpected place, and her friends were just being selfish and myopic.
Streep managed to humanize the Miranda character, and I felt her final speech to Hathaway didn't necessarily justify a cell phone in the water gesture. I hear the book presents a more compelling moral dilemma. Here it just rang shallow. Miranda is not a beast, and I believe that Hathaway was learning from her. There was not much evidence of moral decay.
But I'm a believer that that which does not kill us makes us stronger. I feel like Hathaway's character became stronger in knowing Miranda, and vice versa.
-Michael