A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Devil Wears Prada”. (2006, 3.5*, PG).
If you hadn’t noticed (satire), this Friday sees the UK release of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” – a mere twenty years after the original. I’m not sure I’ve rewatched the original during that time and some of the things in the new trailer (like “one of the Emilys”) completely lost me. So a rewatch was required, albeit on the small screen. It’s just ironic that I have released reviews for two films about fashion, one after the other, twenty years apart and both of them starring Anne Hathaway!
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Keen but clueless graduate Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) starts a job at ‘Runway’: a leading fashion magazine. But she is there as a junior assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) who eats assistants for breakfast. She’s not helped by Miranda’s PA Emily (Emily Blunt), who immediately takes a dislike to the under-dressed and under-styled Andy.
Certification:
UK: PG; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC website: “Contains mild language”.)
Talent:
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Adrian Grenier, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker, Tracie Thoms.
Directed by: David Frankel.
Written by: Aline Brosh McKenna. (From the novel by Lauren Weisberger.)
Running Time: 1h 49m.
Review:
Positives:
- The film brims with star quality, with the four leads – Hathaway, Streep, Blunt and Tucci – bouncing off each other wonderfully. It’s a clever story device having Andy as the lamb to the slaughter; Miranda as the wolf; Emily as the wolf’s egger-on and Nigel (Tucci) becoming a surprising confidante and ally. All of the actors really inhabit their roles and ‘make’ the film. But it is Meryl Streep that shines, picking up yet another Best Actress Oscar nomination (she holds the record of 21 acting nominations) for the portrayal of Miranda Priestley. (On the night, she lost out to Helen Mirren for “The Queen”).
- The book of “The Devil Wears Prada” was based on the true experiences of author Lauren Weisberger while she was working for “Vogue”. But even so, the film that kept coming to my mind while watching this was Mike Nichols’s classic from 1988, “Working Girl”. You have the same aesthetic of a new hire, out of her depth, using her guile and intellect to reinvent herself and come through in the job. You also have the same set of downtown friends, with Adrian Grenier playing her boyfriend Nate in this case. As in “Working Girl”, the boyfriend gets disenchanted with his gf’s work ethic and ‘elevated manner’, although here Nate just gets grumpy with Andy and they “take a break” and doesn’t (as Alec Baldwin’s Mick did) get down-and-dirty with another girl on the kitchen floor! But then another similarity is that each girl hooks up with a player in her new industry: in Andy’s case, fashion designer Christian Thompson (Simon Baker) and in Tess’s case, mogul Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford).
- Obviously, the film heavily features costumes, designed by Patricia Field and the film was – no surprise – nominated for the Costume Design Oscar. (Again, it lost out, this time to Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette”.)
- The Production Design is also superb: Nigel’s office is a work of art.
Negatives:
- The casting of Nate (Adrian Grenier) doesn’t feel right as he and Hathaway really don’t seem to have much on-screen chemistry.
- Particularly through today’s lens – a lot has changed in 20 years – the treatment that Andy received from Nate and her ‘friends’ feels mean and spiteful: almost as if, as a woman, she shouldn’t be striving to better herself.
Summary Thoughts:
This film actually resonates with me for a very particular reason: because, to a degree, I WAS Andy! I spent some of my career at IBM as a Junior Executive Assistant to a lady called Ellen Hancock who ran IBM’s Networking Systems division based in Staines near London. (She went on to head up Apple’s Technology division, so she was a big deal in the industry.) Ellen could be a very sweet and civilised lady, but put her into work mode and she really could be Miranda Priestley! I won’t go into any specifics of what she did, since I was sad to read that she died in 2022 at the age of 79 and that feels disrespectful.
But one scene I could confidently guffaw at was when Miranda arrives at the Runway office and panic spreads through the building. I could relate to that: I wrote a computer program called “She’s In” which people could subscribe to (they all did) and when I knew Ellen was inbound to the office I would trigger the program and everyone received a notification on their desktops!
The film is certainly a good, solid and entertaining watch. It doesn’t go to any unexpected places though and adults in particular might want to take its “classic” label with a pinch of salt.
Before you see the sequel, see where you can watch the original through the “Justwatch” widget below.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZOZwUQKu3E.
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