a boring film about a supposed world of glamor

Rating: 5/10 (2 March 2007)

Some people think that this world of glamor exists. It is located in a remote galaxy named the United States, on a solar system named New York, and more precisely in the center of planet called Manhattan. The inhabitants of this world seem to be obsessed with their clothing and they do not behave very nicely to citizens of other galaxies.
Maybe the life of those aliens is interesting for some folks, but it is not for me. The action of 'The Devil Wears Prada' is a little bit more than a sitcom, but not much more. 'Sex in the City' without the sex if you see what I mean. Actually David Frankel directed a few episodes of 'Sex in the City' and his skill in filming New York and love for the city is visible.
It is not that horrible as a film though. Meryl Streep is always fascinating to watch, although half of the screen time is spent in showing her in various closing for no longer than two seconds. In the other half she succeeds to create a female executive character that is strong and credible, one percent human and 99 percent not, you feel like you may have met her in the board room of any American corporation. The Oscar nomination seems a slight exaggeration though. I was not too impressed by Anne Hathaway, who is playing the principal role of the young journalist trying to make a career as PA of the famous Streep, opposing integrity and humanity to the she-devil. It is maybe because it's hard to be a female actress in the shade of Streep, or just because big eyes do not automatically make you an Audrey Hepburn. The role I actually liked more was the one of Stanley Tucci as the slightly effeminate and affecting editor, charming and self-ironic in the right doses.
All these save the film from being the complete disaster the conventional story deemed it to be, but cannot raise it above the threshold of mediocrity. At least thanks to it and to wikipedia I now know what Prada is :-)