Worth seeing

Rating: 7/10 (16 November 2006)

I didn't expect much before watching this film despite all my friends' interests in it, but it turns out to be quite satisfactory.
Andy is a university fresh graduate and dreams to be a journalist. She gets a job interview for the assistant of the chief editor, Miranda, of "Runway". Having no sense and knowledge of fashion, Andy is unexpectedly hired by Miranda, which later changes her life. The difficult job forces her to learn to survive, but also transforms her into another Andy.
There's no wonder why a girl who has her own dream can be fooled by the reality as she's just too "fresh" to the real world. She is first tempted by the idea that "after a year as Miranda's assistant, you can get whatever job you want". This must be very attractive to many fresh graduates as nowadays it's getting harder to make what you want to do a living. This more or less reflects the real world and also fresh graduates' feelings.
As the story goes, you'll see rather loose, or boring, development of the story flooded with clothes in a lively way, and this is what my female friends find amazing about the film.
It's not unusual to see everyday examples of mistaking what others want as what you want, just like what Andy does. At last Andy does make a choice that I find uneasy and expected. Maybe it's better to have a happier ending anyway.
The whole film is like an examination to Andy, with Miranda as the examiner. Miranda's image as the devil is ruined by the reference she writes as I suppose the devil will never give you any rewards. But this role can be regarded as Meryl Streep's showcase for her ability to handle different kinds of roles. Anne Hathaway proves herself to have much potential and yet she still needs to polish up her acting.
I've seen not a few films of this kind and I would say this is one of the good ones. It would be better if the film can be shortened and focus more on the inner side of Andy.