The Devil Wears Prada

Someone who stumbled across my original capsule review of this movie asked me to write a full-length review, which I did after re-watching it on DVD. My opinion of the movie hasn't changed, but I enjoyed the opportunity to elaborate on my feelings about it...

Anne Hathaway stars as Andy Sachs, a recent college graduate who comes to New York looking for a job in journalism and ends up working for one of the world's most influential magazines. Unfortunately, the magazine in question, Runway, is about fashion, a subject Andy has no interest in (and even looks down on). And her job is working as the second assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) the magazine's notoriously uncompromising editor.

Andy initially disdains her new job, but eventually it becomes important to her to be good at it, and for nearly an hour we're treated to an entertaining and compelling behind-the-scenes look at the fashion world, the lives of the people who are part of it, and the effect this world has on the rest of us. Then abruptly some contrived conflict is introduced, providing more narrative drive -- which was, I assume, the desired effect -- but also undermining what had been making the movie so enjoyable.

We’re told that by working hard at her job, Andy has turned her back on her friends and family, but we’re not shown this. All we're shown is a young woman trying to build a career who's burdened with friends and family whose support is completely conditional. As soon as she starts to take her job seriously -- not some random job, but a job related to what she wants to do -- it’s her friends and family who turn their backs on her.

The other bit of contrived conflict, which pairs the conflict between Andy and her boyfriend with one between Miranda and her husband, results in the movie taking a position on career-driven women that I thought went out of style years ago. Any ambiguity about the movie's stand on this issue is annihilated during an infuriating scene toward the end. But I didn’t understand the boyfriend’s problem, and I didn’t understand the husband’s problem, either. If your girlfriend wants to build a career in journalism in New York, or if your wife runs one of the world’s biggest magazines, you need to accept that she's going to have less time for you.

A big part of the appeal of Devil Wears Prada are its performances, and there are some terrific ones here. Much has been written about Stanley Tucci and the Golden Globe-nominated Emily Blunt, and deservedly so. They have our attention and empathy almost from the first moment they appear on screen, and they command every scene they’re in. During an early confrontation between Andy and Miranda, Blunt is standing in the background, perfectly still and out of focus; the scene isn’t about her at all, but it’s hard not to notice her there and wonder what she might do.

Much has also been written about Meryl Streep, but here I have to part ways with critical consensus. Streep’s is a solid performance, but it’s not quite a remarkable one. We believe that she is who the movie says she is, but there are few sparks when she’s on screen. She doesn’t surprise us. Meanwhile, poor Anne Hathaway hasn’t received even a drop of the credit she deserves. Not only is she our guide through this world, not only does she hold her own in a cast packed with colorful characters, and not only does she embody the movie's emotional arc -- she also pulls off pretending to be attracted to both her self-righteous boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier) and up-and-coming writer/fashion-world hanger-on Christian (Simon Baker). All in all, she acquits herself well.

The Devil Wears Prada has more intelligence and charm than we’re used to getting in American comedies these days, and so I hope I haven’t been too hard on it. Watching it a second time, I enjoyed the first half all over again... even if I was simultaneously dreading what was to come.