Curdled fairy tale of ambition and self-respect; Hathaway is alluringly wonderful & Streep can chalk up another Oscar nod

Rating: 7/10 (5 July 2006)

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (2006) *** Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Adrian Grenier, Tracie Thoms, Rich Sommer, Simon Baker, Daniel Sunjata. James Naughton. Frequently bitingly funny adaptation of the best-seller roman a clef by Lauren Weisberger about an idealistic young journalist wannabe (Hathaway at her most appealing to date) attempting to make it in The Big Apple as the second assistant to the demanding diva editor- in-chief of a posh fashion magazine (Streep who can chalk up another Oscar nod in one of her best performances in recent memory) - loosely based on Vogue's Anna Wintour - who makes the young charge's life a living hell. Aline Brosh McKenna's screenplay cuts to the bone with its chilly, caricature-border lining skewering of the hoi polloi and TV vet director David Frankel uses montage very well in the storytelling in this curdled fairy tale of ambition and self-respect. Tucci is a dry, wry riot as the acidly funny art director who mentors/ befriends the doe-in-the-headlights Hathaway and Blunt is a blunt weapon of mass destraction as her immediate supervising bitchy superior. Expect an Academy Award for best costumes by Patricia Field; simply divine dahling!