The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Meryl Streep is a brilliant actress. I think that is something we’ve all figured out. I know that she is one of the best working actresses today. And keeping all of that in mind, I think she is still one of the most over-rated actresses working today. She is a wonderful actress, one with a legacy behind and in front of her, but she is put on a pedestal and is portrayed as a goddess. As I am reviewing this, I am watching the fantastic My Week with Marilyn, and personally, I think Michelle Williams completely deserved the Best Actress Oscar, even more than frontrunner Viola Davis for The Help, and yet, Meryl Streep won for The Iron Lady, a movie that barely even existed. But let’s get beyond the actress, we need to see the film that gave her the resurgence in popularity.

Based off of the novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger, who wrote it based off of her experiences as assistant to Vogue editor-in-chief (and totally crazy) Anna Wintour, the film follows Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway, in what is probably her breakout role) as she tries to break into journalism by being the second assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep, in an Oscar-nominated role), a psychopathic editor-in-chief for Runway, a fictional magazine that apparently possesses all the power in the world. Also helping Andy in her endeavors are Miranda’s first assistant Emily (Emily Blunt) and the art director of the magazine Nigel (Stanley Tucci, who is a giant walking ball of awesome), as they all work together to try to possibly survive in a world where their boss can cost someone $300,000 just by pursing her lips.

While I don’t entirely agree with it, I found a lot of amusement in reading Roger Ebert’s review of this film. He compared the entire film to a series of books that were around when he was a kid, and it was completely fantastic. This film is a bit like that review. You really don’t expect how smart it is, but to the very core of it, there’s just something that withholds it from living to its full potential. There it’s my disagreement with it, here it’s something a little less definable. But still, while The Devil Wears Prada is lacking as a film, as a satire of the fashion industry, it’s a good bit of fun.
7.5/10