>>REVIEW
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
STARRING Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt
DIRECTED BY David Frankel
Opens Friday, June 30
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The Devil Wears Prada, a movie based on Lauren Weisberger’s best-selling novel of the same name, is formulaic, but works because of its great cast and exquisite wardrobe. As far as the movie’s ingenue Anne Hathaway is concerned, The Devil Wears Prada may as well have been The Princess Diaries: New York City.
Hathaway plays Andy Sachs, an aspiring journalist who gets a job working as "Assistant Two" to the editor of a high-fashion magazine, and sees it as a "stepping stone" to better career choices. Hathaway’s performance starts strong, but falls flat towards the end, mainly because her co-stars trump her in almost every scene.
Andy is out-of-place at Runway magazine at first, due to her drab wardrobe and horrible haircut, but soon transforms into a formidable fashionista. However, the designer clothes she wears seem to wear her, as she tries to appease and impress her ruthless boss (played by Meryl Streep).
Andy is then faced with the typical conflicts that pervade in this type of movies – shall I dump my scruffy sous-chef boyfriend (played by Adam Grenier) for a more-refined and classy gent (Simon Baker)? Have I sold my soul to the gods (or devils) of the fashion world and is it too late for redemption? Should I quit my all-consuming job to please my boyfriend and friends, who think I’ve turned into a cold-hearted fashion imp? Oh, decisions, decisions.
The scene-stealer of this movie is the always-delicious Streep, who plays Miranda Priestly, the overworked editor of Runway magazine. Her character is loosely based on the legendary and fear-inducing Vogue editor, Anna Wintour, whom the book’s writer Lauren Weisberger, once worked for.
Streep is a sight to behold. Her Cruella Deville-esque silver hair is coifed in the most glamorously wicked of styles and her icy stares come off with just the right amount of nonchalance and anger without saying a word. When she does speak, she does so in a breezy whisper and ends all conversations with a short and almost melodic, "that’s all."
Emily Blunt is comedic and feisty as Miranda’s "First Assistant," Emily. Stanley Tucci, as Nigel, is an amusing and colourful fashion consultant who helps to revamp Andy from dowdy to dazzling.
Disappointingly, Hathaway can’t seem to get out of "teenage drama" mode, and The Devil Wears Prada, though well-directed by David Frankel, comes off like a coming-of-age chick flick that is only saved by the stellar performances of Blunt, Tucci, Streep and a host of haute couture designer duds that take center stage and make this film fabulously stunning to view. |
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