Aside from the underdeveloped main character and an inconsistent romantic subplot it was building up to something unique before it failed to deliver it.

Rating: 7/10 (28 May 2020)

First I'll start praising what the movie does well: Meryl Streep's ruthless character is obviously the highlight of the movie, all the characters have great performances and their character motivations are consistent throughout the film except that of the main protagonist, which is exactly where the movie falls down to me.
What makes cakes great is the harmonic symbiosis between the different elements that conform it. If this movie was a cake, it delivers a great top and base layer that are the flashy, makeover, glamour-life aspects which are essential to a fashion movie; but misses the butter icing, the jam and the decorations in regards to comedy, romance, life lessons and realistic character arcs that similar "rom-coms"-like movies like this normally also have. Movies from the same writer like "Morning Glory" or others like "The Intern (2015)" also starring Anne Hathaway which, while not having the same main plot or characters, the themes and spirit are similar featuring career-focused people ruining their personal life and interacting with experienced professionals played by famous celebrities.
To put it simpler, I get it. I get what the purpose of the whole backdrop of the fashion scene and how tough, superficial and demanding it is. But honestly, I wanted to watch this movie for the career angle because it was listed in many "Top 10 movies about job seekers and uplifting movies". And for the first half the movie had something different going on from the rest of the "genre" which was the angle of starting to work in a business as an intern/assistant of sorts while working your way up to your dream job and, in the process, finding an interest in the business you thought was only temporary.
However, the movie fails to deliver that feeling. And it is essentially due to our main vessel, Anne Hathaway's poorly written character. It baffles me how so many actors featured in this movie have great performances and character arcs and the main protagonist might have the worst one. Not in terms of progression but in terms of consistency. Let's be honest, these movies are predictable, there's so much you can do in a rom-com-esque genre like this and some try to do something different and that should be commended, but the choices she makes here make no sense. There is such a lack of consistency in her actions that her choices and reactions seem unnatural to that of a real person in romantic, career and friendship-related situations.
The change from a "dorky" selfless smart girl to a career-focused glossy self-centered one is too sudden to be believable. You mean to tell me the girl which didn't care about fashion at the beginning suddenly goes to a fashion show in Paris and has her jaw dropped emoting a found a passion for it? Perhaps, but we as the audience have not seen or felt it through her actions. She began as this strong opinionated person who knew what she wanted and didn't care about fashion to making every selfish fashion-oriented decision ever possible. You could attribute this to the theme of how the job and industry "consumed" her and how she was meant to realise all the wrong things she was doing, however it is so inconsistent to her character that it makes you wonder if you missed something. It's weird to say it but it almost seemed as there were some montage scenes missing for how underdeveloped it looked.
I don't want to get into spoilers, but the romantic subplot is so cliche and unrealistic that it is damaging to the protagonist integrity. If Anne Hathaway's character was supposed to be so smart and strong-willed, it doesn't really show. Her heart doesn't break when it is supposed to, she doesn't show that she cares about how she wronged her family and her friends after she realised the wrong things she did. And the reason is that it's just underdeveloped. There are so many scenes missing: apologizing, crying, frustration scenes. The runtime limits this movie so heavily, and I'm pretty sure all these underdeveloped themes are well fleshed out on the novel but here they are replaced by over the top scenes that may not even be that essential to the plot.
The comedy is not nearly as funny as it could have been in the frame given. So many other fashion movies have provided some of the best makeover scenes and flashy over the top but charming humorous scenes yet here there are no where to be found. As mentioned previously, even movies like Morning Glory and The Intern have better comedic timing and humorous scenarios that exploit the setting and situations the characters are put in, but it's unfortunate how this film doesn't exploit the fashion-scene (which by itself is already over the top) and still manages to be more praised than the other two. Perhaps this movie was the genre pioneer for the other two which came after this one, but that doesn't excuse it from its narrative mistakes.
IN CONCLUSION, it should have been more self-aware and push the dramatic and comedic aspects a bit further. I was hoping to see a movie about the perils of a recently graduated girl getting an unsuiting temporary job (even though it is a highly-demanded job for a very important company in NYC, which is odd she would get hired) but finding herself learning the positive aspects of the competitive corporate world yet the themes taken from the fashion scene did not aid her development, the romantic subplot in ALL its parts was inconsistent and unrealistic not to mention unsatisfying to say the least; and the overall message and life lessons were either confusing due to their mutual exclusion or not fulfilling enough to fit the protagonist's personality. It's unfortunate because all the elements presented had a lot of potential and could have been very entertaining to watch.