Worth seeing if you like this kind of movie

Rating: 7/10 (1 July 2006)

The Devil Wears Prada is a good movie and worth seeing. There are things I wish they had done differently but the production values were very good, the picture was unusually sharp and clear, the soundtrack wasn't piercing, and it wasn't crude or misogynist. Adrian Grenier is in it. He has a supporting role but appears periodically throughout the movie. He plays the main character's loving, down to earth boyfriend. He has a three day growth of beard throughout and bushy eyebrows, but otherwise looks handsome. I'd say his acting ranges from very good to o.k.
The director is fascinated with Meryl Streep and her character; in fact it's a Meryl-centric production. I'm not as fascinated as he is; I would have liked to see more of Adrian and I don't think I'm alone. There were a lot of things that could have been done with regard to that. I mean, this is a chick flick. Instead this movie will go down in history as one of the most loving, detailed depictions of an aging ice queen ever made. The movie is almost trying to kiss Anna Wintour's and Vogue's but in a way. I didn't find that to be necessary.
There is plenty of fashion and many elegant settings. A lot of money was spent. The movie has also been very well promoted and supported, which is unusual for a "chick flick" these days. I'm glad of that. If the studios did a better job of catering to them, females and grown ups would come back to the theaters. I'm glad the people at this studio realize that. I look forward to seeing what they do next.
NOTE TO SENSITIVE PEOPLE AND PARENTS: There's nothing bad in this movie. It is rated PG-13 but it could even be rated PG or a G. There's less swearing than you will hear in line to get your tickets. There's no sex or nudity. You can tell some characters have had or will have sex but you really don't see anything of it at all. There's no violence. As I said earlier, the soundtrack was less noisy and obtrusive than usual and I'm thankful for that.
NOTE ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MOVIES AND REAL LIFE: In this movie, and a lot of movies, there is a clear cut choice between doing something snotty and superficial and following a path with heart and integrity. A lot of teenage movies present this dilemma as well. My experience is that life hardly ever plays out that way.
I've written for magazines and am familiar with the publishing industry. First of all, to use this specific industry as an example, every day there are fewer publications to write for, of any type. The ones that remain are often getting eaten up by corporations and or having to downsize personnel, so even the idea of having a job at a publication is semi-mythical. Muckraking newspapers such as the one appearing in this movie are almost non-existent. People that work at alternative newspapers are often cranky, drug-addicted, and far from reasonable. Wages at such enterprises can be ridiculous and payment for freelance writers is often far less than minimum wage. Exploitation and mistreatment of writers is common at many publications, perhaps especially idealistic ones.
High fashion magazines have just as much to answer for. They cause anorexia and self-loathing in women, exploit hopeful young people, prostitute themselves to their advertisers, and recycle the same tired articles over and over again. For all that, your chance of ever getting a job at one of them is virtually non-existent.
Other industries have plenty of problems too. A business that espouses high ideals might have a bunch of maladjusted, difficult people running it and be a perfectly miserable place to work. Poverty sucks no matter how you slice it. You have a few years when you are young when it's o.k. but after that it grinds you down.
I'm not trying to tell anyone to lose their idealism, I just think that these movies collectively create a false picture of reality for young people. I can't tell you what to do, just don't go looking for the muckraking newspaper in this movie to apply for a job; it would have been shut down twenty years ago.