The Devil Wears Prada
Posted on 11. Dec, 2007 by The Gimcracker in Beratings, Movies
Keeping up with the theme of belated Beratings, I decided to officially B-Rate a film that I saw in theaters and just recently bought on DVD for my wife. Picture me sitting on the couch sipping Diet Coke curled up under a blanket with a lovely fire burning watching The Devil Wears Prada with my wife and two of her girl friends.
You can’t can you? That sound you just heard was a systemic anomaly being created in your brain because you thought about something impossible. Impossible or not, it happened. After it was over I changed my oil, ate 2 beer bratwursts, played Xbox for 7 hours, and killed a deer with my bare hands, all while listening to Megadeath and drinking copious amounts of whatever is the manliest beer you can think of.
Despite how unmanly this film was, I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I never knew the fashion industry could be interesting. And maybe it isn’t after all, but at least The Devil Wears Prada makes it seem so. I was thoroughly frightened throughout the film for the well being of our protagonist as she tries to survive in the most prestigious fashion magazine this side of Paris. We first see Andy (Anne Hathaway) as a well dressed beautiful young girl with (what I thought was) pretty good style. As the movie goes on, we soon find out what “good” style actually is, and that she doesn’t have it.
I was basically going back and forth between the edge of my seat wondering how this girl was going to keep her job and cowering deep in the cushions of the couch as I watched Miranda (Meryl Streep) completely and utterly destroy the world she thought she knew. Any film that can affect me like that – no matter if it’s about fashion, sports, or war – is a good film.
The Good
Meryl Streep.
She is the reason to see this movie. It’s one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. Sometimes I forgot I was watching a movie because I was completely awestruck by how real she seemed. It was the culmination of every person who has ever disciplined me all rolled into one character.
The side characters really boost the whole experience, especially Nigel (Stanley Tucci) who plays a great fashion designer and confidant for Andy, Emily (Emily Blunt) who is Andy’s rival for the position of first assistant, and Christian (Simon Baker) who has weird eye brows but still performs well as a friend/betrayer to Andy.
The plot was excellent. There is a clever twist at the end of the movie regarding Miranda and her business partners that I didn’t see coming. I won’t give it away, but I was thoroughly impressed by how they put it all together and how it worked out in the end.
The Bad
The main character left me wanting more. Anne Hathaway didn’t stand out as much as she needed to, and I really didn’t end up caring what happened to her. And her group of friends, including her boyfriend, were complete and utter losers. They were supposed to be the good guys because they were the “real” people, but frankly I didn’t enjoy any of the scenes with Andy and her friends at all. To me, they were way more pretentious than all of the fashion industry workers.
There was also a frustrating scene where Andy was instructed to do a very simple task but screwed it up unnecessarily. All she had to do was put that book on the table and she was explicitly told not to go upstairs, but she ignored those simple rules. I don’t believe that someone trying her hardest not to screw up at her job would disregard her instructions and risk everything she’d worked for like that.
Lastly, why did Andy sleep with Christian? What was the purpose of that scene? She proceeds to tell him that she is “not his baby” when in fact she just proved she was “his baby” by sleeping with him two seconds ago. I don’t get this character interaction, it’s a little forced and unbelievable.
The Beratings
Acting – 1 berating
Plot – no beratings
Inconsistencies – no beratings
Unbelievable Events – 1 berating
Schematics – no beratings
Recommended Investment = See it at full price
0/10 Stand in line for the very first showing
1/10 See it the first weekend
2/10 See it at full price
3/10 See it at the Five-Buck-Club
4/10 See it at the dollar-fifty
5/10 See it OnDemand
6/10 Rent it from Blockbuster
7/10 Watch it on TV
8/10 Watch it purely for spousal points
9/10 Never watch it
10/10 Buy it and publicly destroy it
I appreciate honesty, but -5 man points. Time to recalibrate the mental filters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbPXprKOybw
hrm… My wife was bothering me to watch this. We might borrow it…
I was totally thinking about that man card episode of Scrubbs when I wrote this.
Yeah… Scrubs is quite possibly one of my favorite shows. Not because it’s better than the other shows, but because of it’s re-watchability and hilarious guy humor. My wife is like Carla the whole time I’m watching. It’s like, I look at her and she has the exact same expression on her face that Carla has on her face the whole time JD and Turk are on the screen. That’s when you know you have a good guy show, when girls roll their eyes and shake their heads (but not because of gross innappropriateness…).
So, yeah, good show…