When life is made of choices

Rating: 7/10 (23 March 2011)

She is being constantly told that it is a job that 'a million girls would kill for', but it is only after aspiring journalist Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway) landed herself as being the junior personal assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the famed notorious editor-in-chief of Runway fashion magazine, Andrea realises what the job entails. Like any rookie just stepping in the real working world, she initially fumbled on her job and fitting in poorly with her colleagues, especially Miranda's senior assistant Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt).
Andrea began to sacrifice her personal life to her new career, including changing her dressing style, with a little help from the art director Nigel (Stanley Tucci). While Emily is surprised at her new look, Miranda notices the change in her junior personal assistant and hands her more near-impossible tasks. Like securing the unpublished manuscript for the next book in the Harry Potter series for her twin daughters. Just when Andrea thought that she has been fired given she initially could not get the manuscript, it would be the up-and-coming magazine writer Christian Thomson (Simon Baker) who is also an acquaintance of Andrea's who said that he has it and saves Andrea from getting the sack at Runway.
The charity benefit which saw both Emily (who is actually falling ill) and Andrea attending along with Miranda would eventually see Andrea being favoured ahead of Miranda's senior assistant Emily (whom forgotten one of the names of the people they were meeting before Andrea bailed her out), resulting in Andrea being chosen to go to Paris with her boss instead of Emily who have been boasting about it for some time. But just as Andrea is about to break the bad news to Emily, Emily is being met with an accident. The two had a confrontation at the hospital, before Andrea left for the art gallery which her friend Lily (Tracie Thoms) opened. Andrea saw Thomas there who gave her a kiss on the cheek, much to the horror of Lily. Andrea then confronted her boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier), telling him that she is going to Paris. The two realises that they have nothing in common, and broke up.
It would be in Paris where apart from attending a fashion show with Miranda and actually meeting famed Italian designer Valentino, Andrea learned of her boss's personal plight and the day after, learning that the editor-in-chief of the French Runway magazine in Jacqueline Follet (Stephanie Szostak) would replace her boss. But Miranda had knew of the plot all along and told a stunned Andrea after attending a luncheon in honour of up-and-coming designer James Holt (Daniel Sunjata) of how she would announce during the luncheon that Follet will be the creative director at Holt's new company.
While Miranda is pleased Andrea's show of loyalty by warning her of her position at Runaway and commenting that she sees a lot of herself in Andrea, Andrea replied that she could never do what Miranda did to Nigel (as he was supposed to be creative director at Holt's new company). But Miranda pointed out that she had already done so, by stepping over Emily. And told her that the choices she has made are necessary to lead the life that she is living. After the two had reached the event from the luncheon, Andrea did not follow Miranda and walked away, throwing her phone into a fountain on the Place de la Concorde when Miranda called her.
It may be a film more suited for the younger set and for those who are interested in the insights of the fashion industry, the film which is a loose screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's novel of the same name (which Miranda Priestly is said to be based on Vogue editor Anna Wintour), is surprisingly good. This is from someone whom like Anne Hathaway's character early in the film who has not much dress sense and has a vague idea of the fashion industry. Meryl Steep who plays the Runway editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly portrayed it well, and Hathaway as the aspiring journalist who dreams of working for The New Yorker one day, did the similar thing in her role as Andrea Sachs.