The Devil Wears Prada :: Wessex Scene Online

The Devil Wears Prada

31st October 2006
Kate Davies

About this film

Title	The Devil Wears Prada
Director	David Frankel
Release Date	5 October 2006
Certificate
Genres	Comedy, Drama
Our Rating	3.0/5.0
Shown at Union Films Sunday 7th January 2007 7:00pm

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More by Kate Davies

Jan 08 - St. Trinians
May 07 - Shadowboxer
Dec 06 - Breaking And Entering
Nov 06 - The History Boys
Nov 06 - Prime

The Devil wears Prada Trailer

Frankly I'm not convinced Prada would withstand the fiery depths of hell any more than I could stand sitting through this film a second time.

In The Devil Wears Prada, notorious ice-queen Miranda Priestly (Streep) is queen bee; the editor of prestigious Runway fashion magazine, in the heart of New York City. The film sees the sartorially-challenged Andy (Hathaway) take on the job of Miranda’s second assistant, where she gets off to a shaky start. Andy has never heard of Dolce & Gabbana, and doesn’t know her Blahniks from her Choos. The shame!

It’s a little like watching a lamb go to the slaughter, until Andy finds her inner fashionista and begins to flourish in the fierce and fickle world of fashion. But the price she pays is high; as Miranda’s demands escalate, Andy’s social life goes out the window. She may be winning the much sought after admiration of Miranda and earning her style stripes, but ‘at what cost?’ is the moral dilemma the film places before us. But lets be honest, if someone was letting me prance about the office in Chanel dresses and Louboutin heels, I too would sell my soul to the devil. Not much of a dilemma then, really!

Hathaway is best known for her roles in kiddie’s delights such as Ella Enchanted and The Princess Diaries, but she manages a pretty adorable turn as Andy here. Meanwhile, Streep steals the show in every scene, as a truly terrifying Miranda. No matter how bad your boss is this lady takes the biscuit (only figuratively though, Miranda doesn’t eat). But it’s the supporting cast who provide the giggles. Nigel (Tucci) camps it up as Runway’s bitchy art editor while Miranda’s first assistant (Blunt) is laugh out loud funny, particularly her ridiculous dietary advice. If this is what it takes to be a size 0, then you won’t catch me jumping on the super-skinny bandwagon anytime soon.

Despite all this, I have to say the Devil Wears Prada did leave me a little disappointed. I was expecting a lot more edge and a lot less fluff after really enjoying unkowns book on which the film is based. It’s all just a little bit sickly sweet for what could have been excellent with a good dose of black comedy. The film also suffers from the massive hype it has received; it’s a lot to live up to, making it almost impossible not to feel slightly letdown.

But don’t be too disheartened, The Devil wears Prada is still worth a watch. One final word of warning: this film will give you serious pick and mix guilt! I still managed to polish mine off though.