I thought I was watching an ep of Ally McBeal

Rating: 7/10 (12 October 2006)

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the film but where was the drug-taking, the plastic surgery, the bulimia, the sheer naked ambition, truly vile back-stabbing and dark and dirty behaviour just to get ahead? Where was the sex? We only saw one face of the Meryl Streep character and that's the one she just presents to the outside world. There are moments for Andy to see her boss's private face but these are never exploited. I've worked for hard people and trust me, at weekends at home they're totally different people. Andy's boyfriend is such a complete dork he's totally laughable. She'd ditch that guy the second she got that amazing job and be doing coke and sleeping around just the way we should see the Emily Blunt character doing - again where's her private side? The one moment when we think - at last Andy's going to be nasty (hooray!) it's totally fudged. Nice film, nicely directed, some great dialogue about why fashion is important, great frocks - but too soft-centred. Too Touchstone, too Ally McNeal.