The Devil Wears Prada -movie review

To begin with a cliche - the devil is in the details. To continue with another common complaint - the movie is never as good as the book. Sadly, this devil gets the details wrong and appears to be adapted from another book entirely!

I grabbed the book on a whim one day to read in anticipation of the film - this was probably the biggest mistake. Whereas the book works as both an exploration of challenges of being true to oneself and a satire of the fashion industry, the movie appears to skip both these elements and tries to justify the very things chided in the book. This shift would be acceptable if it was done effectively but Devil fails to make an impact.

The movie flounders in two key areas:
1 - it mistakenly attempts to make Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep) sympathetic
2 - it never clearly articulates Andy Sachs' (Anne Hatheway) motivations
The result is that the potential screen gem-ness of the above pairing falls into a mess of montages and weak "moments". Neither actress is given a true role and the experience becomes a frustrating experience of "huhs" and "whys".

Further, the film uses none of the content elements of the book. Instead it builds a silly backstabbing plot that NEVER occured and stands with no support. The effect is that the film continues to perpetuate the stereotypes of powerful women (namely that they must be punished and cannot be ALL bad) rather than break them with a character that is unapologetically horrible from beginning to end. The changes in Andy's story also serve to make her character weak and unlikeable. It is impossible to understand why she continues with her job other than a desire for the material things the film thinks the audience should want. But this is not supposed to be the point.

In the end, a wonderful opportunity for lovely actresses from two generations to make a smart film is lost. Even dressed up in Prada, this Devil is a sinful waste.