THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

Director: David Frankel (TV work, notably Sex in the City)
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci

I am a guy indoctrinated into Sex and the City by girls, I'll admit it. It took 5 or 10 episodes for the show to sink in, but eventually I got it. Eventually, I even liked it. Sex and the City is (was) a good show.

I note this because the Devil Wears Prada is Sex in the City for teenagers, and I mean precisely. Nearly every detail that contributed to the TV show's success was lifted and only slightly shifted for the teenage audience. These crowd-pleasing bits were then gently folded into a stereotypical teenage plot and voila, we've got a new movie. By teeanage plot, I'm thinking of the hundreds of kids flicks that more or less have the same plot, but just move the setting around from one kid activity to another (Karate Kid - martial arts, Drumline - band geekdom, Airborne - rollerblading, Gleaming the Cube - skateboarding).

In this film the kid (or young adult as it may be) goes to New York (that city that every kid in America just thinks is the coolest place in the world) and makes the big time in her chosen arena (fashion). So, this film is mundane, predictable, cookie-cutter. It should be awful, right? Well, no, it's not. It's actually quite good. Just between you and me, here's why: good acting. Really good acting.

Yes every character in this film was well done, and character is usually what it's all about in the end. Meryl Streep was wonderful as the absurdly arrogant and self-involved fashion magazine boss. Anne Hathaway was wonderful as the little girl struggling through her big dreams. Stanley Tucci was wonderful as the friendly (and talented) gay confidant that takes that girl under his wing. Even Emily Blunt was wonderful as little Anne Hathaway's competition for the big dream job.

The story follows Hathaway as a bright college grad who takes a job as an assistant to Streep's powerful (in the fasion world) magazine boss. She's the fish out of water who eventually learns to thrive in her new environment thanks to some wardrobe advice from Tucci. There are struggles with her boyfriend over her new lifestyle and struggles with her competition in the workplace (Emily Blunt), but in the end she realizes that she's not been true to herself. She learns that as enticing as the fast paced world of international fashion might be, she simply can't bring herself to throw away all she believes in to have fun and look pretty in life. So there you go.

So back to Sex in the City for a moment. I tend to think that that show worked not because it was set in that city of teenage American dreams (New York), or because it focuses on fashion, or because it focuses on sex. Well, at least it didn't work entirely because of these things. I think it worked because it had well-written, well-acted, engaging characters that we cared deeply about. So since this film also had interesting, engaging characters I guess that The Devil Wears Prada really did get the best parts from Sex in the City thing right.

A well-done teenage flick. Meryl Streep is probably the best actor working today.

Standouts: Acting (particularly Streep and Tucci) and cute little kid's story.
Blowouts: Like fashion itself, this story itself is mostly a pretty veneer. It just doesn't delve too deeply below the surface. I.e. It's a kid's flick.

Grade: B+