Vol. 3, No. 2 February 2007
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DVD Review
The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway; directed by David Frankel
Streep carries this otherwise weak film with her exemplary comedic timing as she delivers marginally funny dialogue in a way that makes this chick flick watchable by a male audience. What’s more impressive in Streep is her ability to make a borderline sadistic character earn the audience’s respect and sympathy—not for the cheesy divorce digression but because of the fierce confidence she exudes with her poignant response as to why fashion is relevant.
Although The Devil Wears Prada lasts only about an hour and a half, it seems drawn out because the secondary characters have storylines of their own. Andy’s boyfriend, played by Entourage’s Adrian Grenier, serves no purpose in advancing the plot—so when Andy falls for a slimy writer in Paris, we’re not let down by her lack of morals but rather her lack of brains. Throughout the first two acts we are to believe that what sets her apart from the “million girls who would kill” for her job is that she’s smart. But when she’s seduced by lines like “I’m staying right across the street from a falafel restaurant that will change your life,” and then the writer turns out to have been insincere, “I’m not your baby” is all she says to him.
Ultimately, The Devil Wears Prada fails because of a lack of believability and honesty. At its face, the film seems like a female empowering movie, but the real underlying message is women are catty and if they wear larger than a size four, they’re fat, too. The Devil Wears Prada is a guilty pleasure, at best, and a film that will soon be forgotten.
