Better than I assumed, but Streep's excellent performance does not make up for all of its flaws

Rating: 7/10 (2 March 2007)

Going into The Devil Wears Prada, I was not expecting all that much. It looked intriguing, but looked like it was a chick flick through and through. Despite Meryl Streep's obvious Oscar nomination, I still was only vaguely interested in seeing it. And despite my thoughts to the contrary, I did enjoy it a whole lot more than I assumed I would.
At a price of course.
The film tells the story of Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), a recent journalism grad who is down on her luck, and is basically forced to apply to be a personal assistant at a fashion magazine. Despite her lack of fashion sense, evil boss Miranda Priestly (Streep) hires her on, and puts her right through the gears from the start. Even with the amounting stress from Miranda and her other assistant Emily (Emily Blunt), who hates Andy from the start, she has to continue to work there, or risk not having a shot at a job she really wants.
Thinking I was going to fed standard issue fluff, I was very surprised by how hard-hitting the film tries to be. Everyone at Runway, the fashion magazine Andy works for, are downright obnoxious. I figured they would just poke fun at her, and treat her like trash, but these people are just mean and awful to her. Although it got frequently interesting, I was downright horrified by some of the phrases and words being thrown around, and was impressed by the amount of pathos the filmmakers made for Andy's character. Watching her have to run around like an idiot added a jolt of realism that I did not expect to see at all.
But almost carelessly, any uniqueness about the film is thrown away in the latter half when it just becomes a cookie-cutter tale of becoming what you hate. The morality tale it slowly becomes is just nowhere near as interesting as its original "boss from hell" storyline. Just watching the film slip into this mode was very disheartening, and almost ruined anything the film had going for it. It was as if they realized that their novel idea was only vaguely novel, and just decided to make the rest of the film dull and predictable to try and make up for it. It essentially became exactly what I half assumed it would.
Another neglectful aspect of the film is the need to continually bring in Andy's friends into the mix. So much is going on with Miranda and the world of Runway that when these characters continue to enter the mix off and on, they just feel awkward and forcefully put in to help bridge gaps. All three of her friends, Lily (Tracie Thoms), Doug (Rich Sommer) and her boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier of Entourage fame), just feel tacked on haphazardly, and really stand to do nothing in the film. Yes, they do have a point in it (especially Grenier's character), but none of them are developed at all, and essentially become useless in the grand scheme of things.
Hathaway is barely developed herself. Yes, she does go through a very drastic transformation as the film goes on, but her character's stupidity and naivety are never quite explained. We know she wants to get ahead, but any secondary details are just completely negated from being told to us. Her second love interest, Christian Thompson (Simon Baker), only continues to add confusion for the character, and just makes for some of the most clumsy and angering moments in the entire film. Her interaction with this guy should have been replaced with more scenes with her friends and/or boyfriend. On one level, she does fairly well for herself. But on the other, she just brings the entire film to a standstill, and seems to be channeling an older version of her character in The Princess Diaries.
Streep on the other hand, is pitch perfect in her deliciously delectable role. When she first came on screen, she looked a lot like Cruella De Vil. But as the film went on, I realized she was so much more evil than that. Her barely wincing and thoroughly melancholic portrayal is marvelous, and makes her one of the most convincing antagonists of recent years. Just watching her coldly directing everyone around her is the key to her devilish demeanour, and it lights up the film in a way that no one else manages to do. She does truly memorable work here, and more than deserved an Oscar nomination.
Supporting turns from Blunt and Stanley Tucci are both particularly memorable, if not for working great against Streep, but for completely showing up Hathaway at any point they are on-screen with her. The two of them bite right into the scenery around them, and make their supporting roles feel so much more important than they should be. I have come to expect this great level of character work from Tucci, but having never seen Blunt in anything made me have doubts about her performance. But thankfully, she delivers in spades, and makes her presence known. She will definitely be one to look out for in the future.
The costumes are also very well done as they needed to be. In some cases, they almost seem like they are characters themselves.
On one hand, the film works very well in its depiction of the "dog eat dog" world of fashion. On the other, it really feels like something we have all seen done before. It is disheartening, but Streep does a fine job in her magnificent role to try and make up for its shortcomings. Backed up by great supporting performances from Blunt and Tucci, she really is the reason the film is watchable in the first place. If for any reason, watch the film for her, and just ignore the storyline.
7.5/10.