The devil wears a hollow epitome of obsessive materialism

Rating: 4/10 (30 August 2006)

"The Devil Wears Prada" is one of those films based from a literary source where the primal idea is intriguing, but for someone whose thoughts function on a different wavelength, the execution leaves one dumbfounded. So there's Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Anne Hathaway), a girl fresh from college, who lands an enviable job ("a million girls would kill for that") as assistant to Runway Magazine editor-in-chief - the legendary Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep in a radically distinctive role). Hoping to get serious work as a journalist, Andy believes one year of putting it up with her arrogant boss and snotty colleagues would instantly guarantee her a ticket to the job she truly wants.
Okay, so I'm not into fashion. Fairly well. That being said, I don't think it should hinder me from thoroughly enjoying the film and saying I did if I really did. After an initial parallel opening sequence, the first few minutes of David Frankel's cinematic version of the novel written by Lauren Weisberger are invigorating, with an intriguing look at the world of fashion coupled with acerbic dialog.
After that, however, the predictable storyline seems to drag, and frequent detours - such as the scenes involving Andy's boyfriend (Adiran Grenier) slow the film down. It doesn't help that the characters are such caricatures of their real-life counterparts (uhm, yeah, I've heard the comparisons between Streep's Miranda and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour) that any intellectual penetration into their character leads to a dead-end.
Eventually what could have been a grand adaptation is reduced to a simplistically trite comment of the fashion world where at this point "The Devil Wears Prada" fails to live to its promise. It's not so much that this film doesn't work for me for the reason that it's about a world I don't inhabit; rather, it's because it doesn't manage to bring light to its protagonist in a way that's worth remembering. There are a couple of standard and unspontaneous attempts, but nothing that manifests into something that would raise this film to a universal level where one can really relate to. Hathaway's Andrea can't cast off her selfish facade enough to give us a glimpse of the true extent of her character and her relationship angle with her boyfriend Nate is too conventional. On the other hand, Streep steals the show as Miranda, who is, simply put, outstanding. Yeah, some bosses can be quite the devil and Streep incarnates this role so fully.
This chick lit-turned-chick flick should do well with those who have read the source material (I haven't) and enjoy the performance of Streep. Still, I can't help but feel unsatiated and mull over the fact that it could've been better. For all I care, the devil may wear Chanel and it will feel the same.