The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Director: David Frankel

Cast: Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, Anne Hathaway as Andrea 'Andy' Sachs, Emily Blunt as Emily Chalton, Stanley Tucci as Nigel, Simon Baker as Christian Thompson, Adrian Grenier as Nate, Tracie Thoms as Lily, Rich Sommer as Doug, Daniel Sunjata as James Holt, David Marshall Grant as Richard Sachs, James Naughton as Stephen, Tibor Feldman as Irv Ravitz, Rebecca Mader as Jocelyn, Jimena Hoyos as Lucia, Gisele Bündchen as Serena

For the past month or so, I have been eagerly awaiting this movie. I
love Meryl Streep, I like Anne Hathaway, I though the world of magazine
publishing could make a great setting for a movie, and I thought the
premise of the book 'The Devil Wears Prada' had a lot of movie
potential. So, now that I've seen it, I have to say it is one of the
funniest movies I've seen this year. The screenwriter has maintained
everything that was funny about the book, as well as chucked a lot of
the duller subplots, and has formulated a movie that is a great deal
more enjoyable than the book.

I'm sure you're all familiar with the basic premise - naive small-town
girl comes to the big city hoping to be a journalist, and gets a job as
assistant to Miranda Priestly, the much-feared editor of 'Runway'
magazine (a thinly veiled take on 'Vogue' magazine, and its editor).
Thankfully, the cast was almost perfect (though I did think Simon Baker
was somewhat miscast at the rakish writer who takes a liking to the
protagonist, Andrea), and elevated the movie to a level it would not
have otherwise reached.

Meryl Streep is absolutely amazing as Miranda Priestly, and I
especially liked the way that, as Miranda, she never raised her voice
above normal speaking level. Streep has said she based this mannerism
on Clint Eastwood, who as Dirty Harry talks very quietly but still
intimidates. This made Miranda much more interesting than the
stereotypical, screaming gorgon she could have become. She is certainly
the best thing about this movie, and I think the odds are good that
she'll score a best-actress nod at the next Oscars. Miranda is also
made more complex (and slightly more sympathetic) than in the book,
which I thought was very good. In the book, which I recently read, the
author (who actually worked as an assistant to 'Vogue' editor Anna
Wintour) was very bitter and whiny about the difficulties of her former
job, and she made Miranda out to be a totally two-dimensional villain
with absolutely no redeeming qualities. However, the movie shows us
(briefly) a different side of Miranda - we see the compromises she has
had to make to get to the top, and we see the toll this has taken on
her personal life. We aren't made to agree with her diva-like
behaviour, but we can understand how hard her life must be.

I also thought that Anne Hathaway was very appealing in her role - she
made Andrea more likable and less snobbish than she was in the book
(although the screenwriter deserves credit for that, as well), and she
looked great in the couture she wore through most of the movie.

The supporting players were also very good, especially Emily Blunt (as
Andrea's caustic fellow assistant, Emily) and Stanley Tucci (as
Miranda's loyal but beleaguered right-hand man, Nigel). On many
occasions, they stole scenes from the ostensibly 'central' character of
Andrea.

The movie, while maintaining the book's premise, does not follow the
book too closely, which I liked. The entire 'Lily' subplot from the
book is eliminated (readers of the book will know what I mean), and
Andrea's parents and boyfriend are less significant in the movie than
in the book. I agreed with these changes, though - I found those
aspects of the book to be quite boring, and their omission made for a
more streamlined movie.

I strongly recommend this movie to virtually anyone, and I just hope
"The Nanny Diaries" (another somewhat-similar 'chick lit' movie
adaptation, coming out soon with Scarlett Johannson, that I am eagerly
awaiting) lives up to the shining example of this excellent movie.