a lot of fun, well acted and surprisingly poignant as well

Rating: 8/10 (9 July 2006)

SPOILERS:
I have not read the book but enjoyed the movie a lot. Although this may not be for everybody I thought it was wonderful and Seeing the movie actually made me want to read the book. The Devil Wears Prada is an enjoyable movie with great performances particularly from Streep who steals the movie.
There have been other movies made that attempt to showcase the fashion industry but I think this one does it the best. What I liked about this movie was the following: it was witty. It was fun, sassy and satirical. And I'm always up for movies that showcase superficiality and then rip that same superficiality to shreds! It's refreshing to see a movie like this and oodles of fun. It seems almost everything was done well. The pacing was snappy and quick and very good. The music selections were perfect("Crazy' is one of my favorite songs.) The glamor aspect was captured well-really well-and the characters were all believable.
And then there's Streep. She was EXCELLENT and I am sure she will receive an Oscar or Golden Globe Nomination. I will admit this movie would not have been what it was without her and having her in it just made the movie.
Hathaway was also the perfect choice to Play Andrea. Anne Hathaway is a lovely actress and it was nice seeing her in the lead role. I was quite surprised to see Gisele Bundchen had a small part. I thought the casting of all was perfect.
And then there's the poignant aspect to the movie. This movie maybe fun and breezy but it is also painful in parts and thought provoking as well as being very true to life. I never worked in the fashion industry but did work in an industry where many of the people I worked with were almost replicas of some in the movie, only worse. For anyone who thinks the characters in this movie are not realistic, they definitely are. And in real life many are even more ruthless. The focus on looks, Money, and just image in general in our society is extremely sad, getting worse and a real issue and it's portrayed very well here. This is "Working Girl" for the Fashion industry.
The movie also shows power and glamor can get to even the unlikeliest of people by showing the change in Hathaway's character so well. My one complaint with the movie is that the movie's message could have been made a little clearer. It was a little muddled but the overall movie was still great.
I loved the end. I was afraid it would turn into a romantic comedy where Andrea is frantically trying to track her boyfriend down and he's boarding a plane about to leave town and she runs and runs....etc etc. man I'm glad that didn't happen. I LOVED the end and really liked that Miranda was humanized. Actually I really liked the movie as a whole. It was exactly what I hoped it would be and how often does that happen? My vote is 10 of 10 for enjoyment and 8.5 for the movie as a whole.