The story of one of the most successful movies of 2006, centers on an aspiring journalist named Andy (played by the arguably talented Anne Hathaway) who looking for work deigns to apply for a job at Runway magazine. The job she applies for is as second assistant to the Editor-in-Chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), a notoriously nightmarish boss who will go on to change and challenge Andy on her mission to success, in a world of fashion she does not want to understand.
From here let's just state the obvious, this is one made for the girls (both male and female), but which due to it's particularly brilliant casting is able to transcend that limitation.
This is after all the performance that would break the previous (and make the new) record for most Oscar nominations by a single performer. Meryl Streep is a special kind of wicked deliciousness which saves this movie from being a difficult to watch piece of froth into a mostly entertaining (thanks to her) piece of froth.
If you don't know, this movie is based on the novel of the same name which is penned by Lauren Weisberger, who worked at Vogue magazine as an assistant to Anna Wintour, the fashion world power player who is the decision maker of hot vs not, an experience on which it is believed the story is based. Anna Wintour being so powerful that on hearing that the movie was in production she allegedly advised the fashion world that making cameos therein would result in a backlash from Vogue (something that designers and the fashion world are not prepared to risk), and so it is that the movie is set in a world which barely stakes a claim in the movie.To this, a lot of the feedback on the movie at the time from those in the know is that the movie is not at all like the real thing...
But does it need to be, because what is presented on screen is exactly a version of the industry which exists in the minds and hearts of people who dare to care (even a little) of what and how that fashion world functions.
Meryl Streep (as I have said before) is brilliant in the role, gobbling up anybody else who appears in the same scene as her. Anne Hathaway has a lot to stand up to in this movie (and she struggles) because it is not only the foreboding character of Miranda Priestly which towers over her, there is also a brilliantly funny performance by Emily Blunt who overshadows her time on screen as the first assistant to Miranda, as well as the undeclared, clearly gay performance by Stanley Tucci. But this is Meryl's show, as most movies she stars in are becoming, her presence on screen having reached that level of the audiences sub-conscious association that being Meryl Streep brings. There are a lot of genuinely funny moments in this film, placed sporadically amongst the tediousness Andy's struggle to work in an industry she does not care for, these hilarities mostly belonging to Streep and Blunt (with Blunt for me having the lion's share of funny moments, Meryl the most wickedly funny).
The movie got flack from the fashion world for it's portrayal of the industry, as well as some commentary from the gay world who felt the gayness was diminished (as it is quite large in the novel), but who really cares when at the end of it all, Anna Wintour herself (who arrived in Prada at a screening of the movie) would go on to state that the movie was really entertaining and that she really enjoyed the decisive nature of Miranda Priestly - because darling's her opinion, especially to those in the fashion world - is the only one that really matters!
If it's your cup of tea, then you know it is, and this movie is for you to enjoy, if not then don't waste your time (unless there's some form of reward at the end for sitting through it with your partner, if you are in that position I promise that at least there will be a smirk or two)...
So , Meryl got a nomination for her work in this movies, but it was never one she was going to win (although she did get a Golden Globe for the movie, although the Globes do present acting awards divided into two categories), she was after all up against another legend Helen Mirren who would sweep it away as the only actor or actress nominated in the lead acting category who was also starring in a Best Picture Nominee (The Queen).
The Devil Wears Prada is the 1st movie watched from the 79th Academy Awards and is the 50th Academy Award movie reviewed for this Blog's Oscar review project...
nuff said...
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