GET OUT MORE...FILM REVIEW

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

14/15-10-2006

Local movie producer Roger Shannon dresses up for Meryl Streep's latest creation.

The world of fashion thrives on glamour almost as much as the movie
business, and yet it has often been badly served by its silver screen
cousin.

A decade ago, Robert Altman brought us his film, PRET A PORTER, an
untidy shuffle down the Parisian catwalks, promising much but
delivering little.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, directed by SEX AND THE CITY stalwart, David
Frankel, takes a different tack and looks at the fashion business from
the perspective of the magazines that gatekeep the glamour.

The film is set in the haute couture offices of the fictional Runway
magazine (a thinly disguised Vogue). Presiding over it all is the
editor, Miranda Priestly, played to stiletto point precision by Meryl
Streep, in one of her finest performances in recent years.

When Streep is off screen, you certainly feel the celebrity star wattage wane. Her
character in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA is based on Anna Wintour, the legendaryglamour mag editor.

Almost on a whim, the devilish Priestly recruits as her P.A. number two
the gangly and goofy Andy (Anne Hathaway) who has no dress sense or
knowledge of fashion, but who nevertheless is immediately plunged into
its giddy world. For Andy the job fills time before she can become a real writer.

At this point the film stitches two genres together - the "fish out of water" storyand the "rites of passage" movie- and goes for its comic moments from the first, when the second might have yielded more layers and texture.

In a makeover of PRETTY WOMAN proportions, Andy sheds her goofy Mid
West pariochialism, becoming ultra stylish and multi modish, embracing
Miranda's world at the expense of her friends and boy friend. She also
assumes the role of P.A. number one, much to the chagrin of Emily Blunt,
who has a saintly devotion to fashion and her Runway editor.

But when Andy gets too close to the superficial core of this very
personal industry, she sheds her newly embroidered persona and returns
to the street level reality of her comis chef boyfriend.

In the end, the film wants us to take fashion seriously (a laMeryl
Streep's role) but also to see its superficial sides(Anne Hathaway's
perspective). To do that successfully it needs to have a
biting wit, a less infatuated detachment and more creasing humour.

The devil may have all the best songs, and the devil may even wear
Prada, but in this case he doesn't have all the best films.