Not As Devilish As She Could Be

Rating: 7/10 (15 October 2007)

The Devil Wears Prada (2006): Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt, Simon Baker, Adrian Grenier, Racie Thoms, Rich Sommer, Daniel Sunjata, James Naughton, David Marshall Grant, Rebecca Mader, Jimena Hoyos, Gisele Bundchen, George C. Wolfe, Heidi Klum, Suzanne Dengel, Valentino, Bridget Hall, Alyssa Sutherland, Robert Verdi, Paul Keany, David Callegati, James Cronin, Steve Benisty, John Graham, Andreas Bertola....Director David Frankel, Screenplay Aline Brosh McKenna.
Based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger, this film adaptation from Director David Frankel was well-received by critics but for me, it lacked a je ne sais quoi. It needed a little more of a tragic tone to emphasize the poignancy that seems to be taking over toward the end of the film. Instead, it appears to cop out at the end and fit the formula of a mainstream Hollywood film. The Weisberger novel was witty and well-written, and read like a funny memoir of a young New York girl's experience in the fashion industry and her not being able to properly fit in, despite some success. The film captured a little of this, but ultimately the style of the film fits in with mainstream films in which the heroine does not appear to take in what she's learned and does not appear affected by her isolating experiences. Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs (notice that her last name is like "Sachs Fifth Avenue") is only a little god but Hathaway has very little experience with serious films or at least films like this one and her acting style is better used in comedies. She is trying too hard and it shows. Meryl Streep's acting is no doubt always good, but in this film, she does not capture the diabolical "Cruella De Ville" type of character I remember reading in the novel. Miranda Priestly is a cold, ambitious, proud woman who has risen to the top as a high fashion magazine editor and is consequently a lonely woman after a failed marriage. Miss Streep does not come off as bitchy or cruel. She comes off as indifferent and conservative. I don't really feel she did a good enough performance. When you have the two leads doing badly, you don't get a good film. The only real winner here is the story itself. Set in New York City's fashion scene, the film/book explores one young woman's entry into that world and her exit. Andy is the most unlikely person to get hired at a fashion magazine. She is highly individualistic and in the fashion scene, it's all about trends and following what's "in" and "hip". Andy dresses as she likes, irregardless of fashion trends. She is intelligent, urbane and has friends who are regular Joes (like her boyfriend Nate played by Adrian Grenier) and her transformation from anti-fashion gal to fashion gal is incredible. But this is not anything like Audrey Hepburn in "Funny Girl". Rather than glorifying fashion as that film does, this film presents that scene as just a business, and a tough one. When Andy discovers she has lost a boyfriend, friends and her own sense of self, she decides to quit working for Miranda. The chemistry between Streep and Hathaway could have been better. In the book, the relationship was almost like a mother/daughter type thing. I did love Simon Baker as Christian, another fashion industry guy, who charms Andy and even becomes her lover briefly. I felt that this sub-plot was too brief and could have been explored more. The music by Theodore Shapiro is lovely. The costumes (by Patricial Field) are well done but only because we know how photogenic both Hathaway and Streep are. But otherwise, the film lacks more of a tragic quality, and more character. Streep could have done better but it's possible the director, working with the author, opted to change her into a more sympathetic character we can understand and see her as fully human and less cartoonish. One wonders how different it would have been if they had cast Glenn Close (famous for over-the-top female characters) as Miranda. But I think that Hathaway would have had better chemistry with Close, considering Hathaway's own over-the-top teen characters. This film is not for everyone. Because it's a film about women, based on a woman's book, about women's fashion, this is not something most men would enjoy watching. There is very little for a man to enjoy (no nudity, no action) but this film still lacked more drama. We don't feel that Andy has learned and lost. I can only give it a 7 out of 10. Check out the film and see for yourself what all the buzz was once all about.