promising start, too much Hollywood in the end

Rating: 6/10 (5 March 2007)

Needless to repeat that Mery Streep is a joy to watch as the Prada wearing devil, and, disagreeing with some other reviewers here, I also liked the beautiful Anne Hathaway, like in general acting is fine in this comedy. Pictures and cinematography are (meant to be) slightly artificial but glamorous and beautiful, as well giving the picture a mixture of elegance and beauty just like a lack of naturalness.
But the story isn't so funny at any moment and isn't so original either to catch you at any time. Especially the end seems to be a problem. After Andy has finally adapted to the Runway milieu as well as to the demands of her boss, she quits the job in a moment where she is closest as ever to Miranda. You might argue that this gives her the freedom to finally turn her back on her and return to her former targets and personality, or you might argue that Mirandas deception of Nigel is the last straw to make Andy go, but in fact it's true what Miranda says that Andy crossed that border already when joining Miranda for Paris in Emilys place, and she could have quit before if she wouldn't have wanted to take that step.
I realize that there is a sub-plot making Andy saying all the time that she is forced to do this and that, and we are meant to understand that the moment when she leaves the taxi with Miranda is the one she finally realizes that it's all up to her and has been so all the time, and it is Miranda making her understand this. But still the story doesn't work for me at that point.
Although Andy before, while talking to her friends, has found all sorts of excuses for doing what she does, again Miranda is right in telling her that she really wants what she does and has actively decided to do it. So why should she suddenly change her mind in Paris after a few events which are not so sensational after all. They give a nice and very common turn to the film, so the producers seem to have thought, and this is probably why this turn is here.
I think it's the point where the movie identifies as a Hollywood movie, trying to save the young girl as the pure heroine who doesn't want to get in contact with evil and even returns to her old boring boyfriend. Miranda might represent some evil, but the truth is, she's a lively person representing both, good and evil, like most of us by the way, and Andy does so too as long as she stays with her and tries to expand her personality in a way she didn't know before. So quitting that job means a step backwards for Andy who abandons what she has reached so far.