THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

David Frankel Written by: Aline Brosh McKennaBased on the 2003 Lauren Weisberger novel Starring: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Adrian Grenier, Simon Baker, Tracie Thoms, Rich Sommer, Rebecca Mader, Jimena Hoyos, Gisele Bündchen Distributed by 20th Century Fox Film was released June 30th (U.S.) and October 5th (U.K.) Review by Matt Holmes

rating: 2.5

As a boyfriend, I have certain duties to keep my girlfriend happy and one of those is to see movies that I wouldn't normally even contemplate watching, even on DVD. For every X-Men 3 (she's not really a superhero fan), I have to sit through The Break Up. There is sometimes an odd occasion like last week with Clerks II that we see a movie we both want to see but it's quite rare. So this week was her turn for a movie and surprise, surprise see choose to see The Devil Wears Prada. Not even the cute Anne Hathaway could stop this from being a bad movie though.... and she actually thought so too. Hathaway stars as Andy Sachs a recent university graduate looking for her first journalistic job in New York. She applies for a job at Runway, a powerful fashion magazine ran by eccentric editor Miranda Priestley played by Meryl Streep who here is playing in the same territory as she did with Cruella Da Ville in 101 Dalmations. "Eccentric" might not be the right word for Miranda as she flings her clothes at her assistants, ordering her staff to get her frequent daily cups of Starbucks literally a minute after making her requests, makes outlandish and quite frankly impossible demands such as getting hold of the new Harry Potter (yes the one not published yet) manuscript before the end of the day, something only a few people on the planet could possibly have. Does she do this to because she is spiteful or is she emotionally insecure... Streep plays the performance well on several levels and she will keep the majority of unfortunate males who have to see this film interested with dry tone. I won't go too heavy into the plot but if you can't guess from the trailer, the movie is sadly extremely predictable and focuses on the humour between Andy and her boss' outlandish demands until she begins to fight back and actually becomes a worthy employee. Wow - couldn't see that coming! Once Andy begins to be successful at her job, her social life suffers and she begins to have boyfriend troubles (she misses the dude's birthday party) whilst constantly being tempted away by a handsome Australian magazine writer who would probably be able to get her the dream job she wants as a journalist.... if she has an affair with him. The relationship between Andy and her boyfriend Nate (Adrien Grenier - who has nothing to do here) is severely under developed in this movie. I found myself not caring if she went off with the Aussie bloke or not, it just seemed to be an unnecessary add on and quite honestly if I was Andy I would have left my boyfriend too. The script gives him no character what so ever, all he ever seems to do is sleep and it doesn't help that the guy playing him has very limited acting ability. Some of the supporting roles are well handled. I liked Stanley Tucci as the rather camp but work slave fashion expert and Emily Blunt's performance as the snotty assistant gets all the good laughs. In fact it's the supporting players who are more memorable here than Hathaway herself. But really there isn't much there in this film. It has very little emotional depth and for a good thirty minutes at least it just seemed to be verging on a pornographic motion picture for shoes. The screening we went too (which was made up of mostly 20 year old girls and a few other poor male souls with their girlfriends) had many cheers and screams from girls almost having an orgasm at the sight of Jimmy Choo's or some type of fashion bag I've never heard of. The directing and movie's soundtrack is bland too. The lazy choice of familiar pop tunes seem to be a desperate attempt to add to the emotional value of some scenes and it doesn't work. Director David Frankel who has helmed many Sex and the City episodes in this past on this evidence seems way out of his depth in handling a feature length story as it drags at the end of the second act until the movie's climax. So a predictable but mostly shallow chick flick which the acting talent involved deserved much better from. Not even the "fashion porno" that the movie sometimes falls into could save it from being a bad movie in my girlfriends eyes... or indeed mine.