The Devil Wears Prada
by Catherine Lee

Meryl Streep plays the devil in question and does it so well we have sympathy for the devil. This isn't the first time Streep has rescued and made interesting a character from a not very good book. As she did in The Bridges of Madison County, Streep stars in and dominates a film that is much better than the book on which the film is based. I read The Devil Wears Prada all the way through (a claim I cannot make about Bridges) for the same reason many people did: I wanted to make sure I got every bit of dirt on the devil. Lauren Weisberger's book is not well written. Her heroine is a selfish, whiny devil-in-training. But, because Weisberger spent a year working for one of the famous devils of the day in New York publishing, and because her first novel read like a series of hastily reworked diary entries, the dirt she flung at the devil had the ring of truth. And dirt about famous people, even if they're just famous editors, is juicy. In the movie, Weisberger's character (based on herself) is played by Anne Hathaway. Andrea Sachs is a recent Northwestern grad who has moved to New York to pursue a career as a journalist. Somehow, she is chosen for an interview with Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-chief of Runway, a fashion magazine that bears a remarkable resemblance to Vogue. Hathaway is a lovely young actress, but she isn't a stick figure. And Andrea, or Andy to her friends, aspires to be a "serious" journalist. She shows up for her interview in an outfit so far from stylish it prompts Stanley Tucci's character, Nigel, Runway's art director, to ask, "Are we doing a before-and-after piece I don't know about?"

      But because Emily, Ms. Priestly's first assistant, has failed to pre-screen former second assistants well enough to keep them from being fired in no time, Miranda deigns to interview Andy. Andy's appearance is against her, and she barely manages "I'm smart, and I learn quickly" before she is shown the door with Miranda's quiet but dismissive closer to subordinates, "That's all."

      But Andy is hired, to the surprise of all. Not that anyone really pays attention. She is most often referred to as "the smart, fat girl" or just "the fat girl." Miranda calls her Emily. The real Emily tolerates her, not out of any actual affection. But if Andy can't handle the job and has to be replaced, it might jeopardize Emily accompanying Miranda to Paris for the couture shows. Emily lives for fashion. She is played by Emily Blunt, a British newcomer who makes Emily a delightful character, even when she's behaving badly or suffering the abuse of Miranda. And Miranda is abusive. She's relentlessly demanding, and as Andy acclimates to the demands and gains skills in dealing with Miranda's whims, Miranda assigns her ever more impossible tasks.

      After a particularly demoralizing series of humiliations, Andy wanders in to the art department looking for sympathy. While Nigel insists he is not available for sympathy, he does give her advice that changes her attitude dramatically. He reminds her, as everyone does, that she has the "job a million girls would die for" and that, for all her brains, she's not applying herself to the tasks at hand.

      Insulting her work ethic and ridiculing her lack of understanding of the world she swims in is just the motivation Andy needs. In no time, she puts her energies into mastering her job. And she gets a very fun movie makeover and starts doing well. And then what functions as the plot kicks in. Andy changes! Her boyfriend and friends don't like the changes, while Andy is quite pleased with herself, at least at first. Of course, eventually, she finds balance or comes to her senses or finds her true self. Whatever. As Andy's boyfriend says, “The person whose call you always take, that’s the relationship you’re in.” He's irritated that he's a distant second to Miranda. The problem is he's a lot less interesting than Miranda. That line of dialogue sticks out because Nate (Adrian Grenier) has only one other line that sharp in the film. He's cute and sweet and an aspiring chef, but he's about as interesting as the grilled cheese sandwiches he makes Andy when she gets home late.

      The male competition is similarly limp. Simon Baker plays Christian Thompson, a journalist who helps Andy while trying to get her to dump her boyfriend. The problem is he wears a scarf indoors in nearly every scene. That isn't just not sexy; it isn't convincingly heterosexual. The only men in this movie that are really paying attention to Andy, and not thinking about themselves, are her dad and Nigel. I'm partial to Nigel for a reason. I'm a Midwestern girl who moved to NYC after college. I didn't work for the devil, though I did spend a few months in freelance hell in the art department of a sister publication of the real Runway in the same building, watching the clackers (that's what they are really called) come and go. I got a job "a million girls would die for," working for a guy like Nigel at a different (and more stodgy and more respected) publication, and it was a fantastic experience.

      David Frankel, the director of The Devil Wears Prada, is the son of the editor of the publication where I worked. He makes this picture sing because he knows this world well. He and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna understand what Weisberger either didn't get or couldn't admit in her book: devils or darlings, successful people in publishing in New York are very smart and very, very charming; they have a permeable membrane between public and private. Miranda is a fascinating, complicated media creature, and Meryl Streep understands this. When Miranda's marriage fails, her comment is "Rupert Murdoch should cut me a check for all the papers I sell for him." Humor is a key ingredient the movie has that the book lacks. The Devil Wears Prada only proves again Streep's surfeit of talent. Her performance as a sentimental midwestern radio singer in A Prairie Home Companion is as far from Miranda Priestly as any two contemporary American characters could be. She is the most talented living actress. That's all.

Catherine Lee is the executive director of Fort Wayne Cinema Center, the only independently operated movie theater in Fort Wayne, specializing in independent, foreign, documentary, specialty and classic films.

Copyright 2006 Ad Media Inc.