Four great performances and a dazzling idea--skip the filler and enjoy the best

Rating: 7/10 (4 January 2013)

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
There are four and a half major stars here, and any part of this movie with any of them is really fabulous. I'm talking Streep of course, and Hathaway who has the main role. Add Tucci who is terrific (as always) and Blunt who is also terrific (as always) and you have he makings of a terrific movie.
So why the downer reviews and semi-dud status? I don't know, except the other parts without any of these, or with just Hathaway and her friends (her peers including her cute but dull boyfriend) are really dull stuff. This is partly the actors and partly the writing, which is truly filler. I can see some people grabbing their remotes at these points.
But let's get to the crux of the movie, which is actually pretty great fun. The parade of great fashion that whizzes by, the haughty power queen that Streep pulls off with such panache, the steady dribble of insults coming from Blunt's mouth, and the transformation of Hathaway, over and over, as she moves her way into this world are all really dazzling. It's a fairy tale with its feet firmly on the ground--but what odd, worldly, glitzed up ground to be standing on.
There are no depths here, just light romantic comedy. It's a situation many of us know--either by having to look good, or by having an impossible boss, or just seeing a relationship dissolve as you move on in your goals and maturity. Between the dreck there is a mostly wonderful idea made into an intermittently wonderful film.