Following some ideas from other Ciao-ers have a new online shop - www.cafepress.co.uk/devonbelle . ...
Following some ideas from other Ciao-ers have a new online shop - www.cafepress.co.uk/devonbelle . Just starting out... will review it sometime soon.... :)
Member since:30.12.2008
Reviews:47
Members who trust:2
The Devil Wears Prada is the film adaptation of a book with the same name. I must confess to not having read the book, but I have seen the film so this is a film only review.
Our heroine is Andi (Anne Hathaway) who has recently earned a good degree and moved to New York to pursue her dreams of becoming a journalist. Unfortunately journalism proves very difficult to break into, so as well as sending her details to lots of magazines, she signs up with the Human Resources department of the company that owns Runway magazine. Andy is called when the work-a-holic cum slave-driver Editor-in-Chief Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep) sacks her assistant and a replacement is needed rather urgently. Runway is essentially a fashion magazine (I imagine it to be like Vogue) but is taken very much more seriously by the employees. Miranda inspires both awe and fear in those that work for her, especially the snotty Brit girl Emily (Emily Blunt) who used to do Andi's job as 2nd assistant, but is now 1st assistant which means she gets to go to Paris with Miranda to see the shows, which is her ulimate dream. Andy's first few weeks are blighted by wearing the wrong clothes, saying the wrong things and not being able to keep up with Miranda's long strings of demands. The only thing that keeps her in the job is the fact that everyone says that Miranda produces the best people in the business and that working with her will open more doors than Andi could ever imagine, so despite her reservations, she sticks with it. In addition, Miranda gives Andi more chances than her character leads us to believe she would tolerate.
I'm not a fashion junky by any means but I did recognise the fashion labels and designers mentioned throughout the film, and the name dropping did put the characters and setting in context. The characters are required to be at the top of their game all the time and are under enormous pressure to be innovative and glamorous, especially when Miranda is stalking the corridors. I liked the way the fashion world was portrayed as being shallow and unfriendly - this is contrasted with Andi's down-to-earth attitude and likeability.
Andi goes through some difficult times working for Miranda, but I felt these could have been emphasised more to show how long the working hours were and the deeper impact this had on the people around her. The film in this respect develops quite soon and another five minutes of tension would have created a greater contrast between the beginning of the film and ...... the rest of it.
The soundtrack begins really well with KT Tunstall, but after that is not that memorable although it does seem to accompany the scenes well. Nothing stuck out as being out of place and nothing was horrible to listen to.
Brilliant performances by Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci, a very memorable character is found in Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway is good, but stands out more because she is very pretty than for her role in the film. Normally I love her films, but here she is slightly outclassed and I didn't find her as believable as the others.
I do like this film - it's not exactly brain-taxing and the colourful characters make it very watchable. Apart from being very slightly predictable it's got some good comedy moments and a few tugs at the heart-strings, but not enough to ruin your night on the sofa with popcorn. Word of warning girls, Blokes Won't Get It. I tried it on the fella and he scarpered with a Dan Brown after ten minutes, despite Anne Hathaway's smile.
Recommend for a girl's night in, or anyone that hates their boss and thinks that it couldn't be any worse!!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Director: Tony Dow - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: John Challis, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Tessa Peake-Jones, Gwyneth Strong
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Based on the hilarious best-selling novel, this stylish and funny movie starring Meryl ... more
Streep and Anne Hathaway is a sensational must-see.As assistant to impossibly demanding New York fashion magazine editor Miranda Prestly (Streep), young Andy Sachs (...
![The Devil Wears Prada [DVD] [2006]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78188044.jpg "The Devil Wears Prada [DVD] [2006]")
exceptional by (4%):
very helpful by (96%):
