Hmmm... how did this become a "broad comedy"?

Rating: 8/10 (3 July 2006)

We just got back from viewing this film, and at the risk of sounding "punnish", here is a snapshot of my take on this flick.
While this is not supposed to be a "chick flick" but an adult alternative to Superman Returns for the box office buck, I sure felt lonely in the half packed auditorium. I could count the number of other males in the audience on one hand... and I didn't have to use my thumb.
This is a very witty, charming but retold "coming of age" story. You know, naive girl comes to NYC (with a boyfriend already attached that is never explained), gets job with hoity-toity "dragon lady" boss, loses her ideals in the glamour, comes to her senses and wins back her morals (and her soul... but not quite everything. You'll see what I mean). I don't consider this a spoiler so much as a plot summary of what we have seen in lots of other flicks and the John Cusack/Kate Beckinsale movie "Serendipity" comes to mind. But what "Serendipity" lacked was Meryl Streep as a villain... but with a heart of pure ice.
Streep takes a great turn for the runway with this flick. She has rarely been this acerbic, able with a oneliner and so vulnerable all at the same time. And having spent several years building sets, hanging lights and hauling around equipment while prima donna models treat you as largely invisible, I can attest that this movie has all the right (yes, another pun coming...) moves. The girls are snobby, thin and lacking in self esteem, the main designer is played by Stanley Tucci to a "t" and and the plot's one main twist is not really apparent until it is sprung.
I really enjoyed this movie. I can only hope to see "A Prairie Home Companion" while "Prada" is fresh in my mind. I want to see if Streep really is in her "salad days" and ensuring her place in Hollywood history as the most versatile actress since the "Golden Age" of Bette Davis, Anne Bancroft, Barbara Stanwyck and the other great actresses of the screen. I think she is already 90% there and "Prada" only serves to provide more fuel for that greatness fire.
By the way, I hope that we see much more of Anne Hathaway than we have of Kate Beckinsale... and I don't mean skin since she has already done that in "Brokeback Mountain" and "Havoc". I just hope she doesn't become another pretty face lost in the blecch called the Hollywood of Kirsten Dunst, Jessica Simpson, Kate Bosworth and all the bleach blonde "flavors of the day". She has a great look and a great presence. I hope someone finds the right, next great script for her.