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No doubt director David Frankel had a devilish time working with the luminous Meryl Streep as the hellish antagonist Miranda Priestly in the film adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada. We're all in on the gag and for nearly two hours the joke works.
Anne Hathaway plays Andy Sachs, a naïve young woman who comes to New York looking for a decent job and unwittingly scores a job that "hundreds of girls would kill for," as the second assistant to the editor of the top fashion magazine in the world. Last for a year in this high stress position, she's told by virtually everybody in the office, and you can get a job at any magazine in New York. But learning the job, and in particular handling the ruthless and sardonic Miranda is the catch, and therein lies the conflict of the story.
Meryl Streep is probably the best actor (male or female) alive today and brings such earnestness to every role, a bad performance or embarrassingly overacted cameo appearance is simply not in her capacity. For her to inhabit the scenery chewing character of Miranda Priestly, the boss from hell, the devil refashioned as a magazine editor, is nothing short of a bold, artistic move. While casting Meryl Streep was probably a no-brainer (it was either she or Glenn Close; Jamie Lee Curtis? Don't make me laugh) director Frankel along with Streep deserve much praise for painting a wonderful portrait of a character that could easily have been overacted or even under-acted. Meryl Streep doesn't play Miranda as a cartoon or as a shrill "boss from hell" cliché--she plays her as a real person. She inhabits this character with superb dramatic timing (not comedic) and a very sad, internally glacial cynicism. The result is oddly, comic gold. Forget the fact that the movie eventually sees the softer side to such a devilish character (only to dismiss it and move on swiftly at typical New York pace); Miranda Priestly's one liners and frosty gaze are enough to merit another Oscar.
The rest of the fashion magazine cast is flawless and should be so, given the big city setting. Stanley Tucci is well on his way to becoming a male version of Meryl Streep--an actor smart enough to play every role with an equal amount of heart and skepticism. Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt are equally charming and vicious as polar opposite competitors--one sells her soul for something she hates, the other devotes her life and soul to what she loves.
Director David Frankel, until now mostly regarded as a television director, (of HBO small screen series that seemed more important than they really were; i.e. Entourage, Sex And The City, From The Earth To The Moon) does bring a somewhat low budget feel to what could have been a much more encompassing view of New York City. However, to concentrate less on the surroundings and more on the worldwide impact of Prada shoes would have made the film longer and possibly unbearable. Besides, Meryl Streep takes care of this shortcoming in one brilliant scene in which she dissects Andy Sachs' icky taste in fashion down to a practically molecular level. It is at that point we realize the devil really is in Miranda, and evil is much more complicated than we ever give it credit for.
The movie's only real weakness is not in the lead cast or even the supporting cast--it's in the minor characters. It's disconcerting to see a movie filled with such joy and energy, slowed down by some wholesome Friends characters who are paper thin and only appear briefly to spout out "You've changed, man!" style exposition, as if they were angels of Hollywood, reminding Hathaway she has so many minutes before she has to sell her soul and wrap up the movie.
Despite minor flaws, The Devil Wears Prada is terrific entertainment. I thought Dora Roberts from Everybody Loves Raymond gave the definitive condescending mother performance until I saw Meryl Streep at her over-fifty best. Meryl Streep does one better than a condescending mother slash fashion editor slash devil. She plays a spiritually bereft character with soul. A-
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