I had been looking forward to this film since I first heard about its production, based on a best selling book, The Devil Wears Prada could be compared to Working Girl. It's all about female empowerment, showing how a lowly magazine intern learns the hardway what it takes to make it big as a woman in the fashion world.
Along the way we get all the cliche's you would expect, a runway soundtrack (heavily promoting Madonna no less), thousands of costume changes (Prada, Vivianne Westwood, Michael Kors etc all make an appearance) and the most important of any female enpowerment picture, the makeover scene ! About halfway through Andie realises that in order to succeed at the magazine she must make more of an effort and as such that involves a total hair and makeup overhaul (I'm sure this will be every woman's favourite part of the film !).
Anne Hathaway is great in her role as Andie but really its' Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep's show. Meryl brings a great deal of depth to the character of uber bitchy boss Miranda and actually makes her a human being with flaws, best empahised in the picture in a scene where her character finds out her husband has left her. Devoid of her armour of makeup and fashionable clothing, Miranda appears as shaken and vulnerable as anyone else would be in her place and it's a great scene. Emily Blunt also plays a bitchy character, Miranda's 1st assistant, who would probably be repulsive if not played by a more skilled actress. Blunt injects a great deal of comedy into her lines so as not to make them too acidic and is a great foil to Andie's overly sweet character. Stanley Tucci is also great in a sort of mentor role as Nigel, a sort of fairy godmother for Hathaway's character. Tucci is not overly camp in the role but does have the odd biting remark about Hathaway's characters size, but it's played more for comedy than nastiness.
Having seen the film and having read the book I have to say that out of the two I actually prefer the film but the book is a more realistic account of what it must of been like to intern at Vogue. The character in the book is far more selfish and potentially loathsome than the butter wouldn't melt character that Anne Hathaway plays, the book also fleshes out her character a lot more, establishing close family ties and the jump she has made from her small town roots to the busy New York cityscape.
Overall while the film is highly predictable and you can see the ending coming a mile off it doesn't matter, I still left the cinema happy as Larry. Watching an underdog overcome the odds and yet not lose herself is always a pleasent experience that cinemagoers love and this pictures box office performance surely shows that. Highly reccomended for all the girly's out there and even for some of the more sensitive guys too. If you enjoy Sex and the City etc this is a no brainer !