The Devil
Wears Prada
Review
by Clint Morris
She may have incorporated a little peekaboo
cleavage into her magic act, but that doesn’t mean Anne Hathaway
still isn’t opening with that same, comfortable, pull the rabbit
out of the hat trick. She may be older. She may be (even more) sexier.
She may even be a better actress now, but there’s not a moment
in The Devil
Wears Prada where Hathaway is doing anything but showing
everyone a trick that they’ve seen before.
In her breakthrough film, The Princess Diaries,
the bubbilicious brunette played a frumpy outsider who finally got her
big break – thanks to a hoity superior –turned princess,
who was able to spit in the faces of those that made her life hell,
whilst she juggled both a new look, new bank balance and new troupe of
admirers. What she ultimately discovered was that it was the friends
that were in her life before that really mattered.
Granted, The Girl Wears Prada
was a book before it was a Hathaway vehicle, and for all intents and
purposes may not have even been intended for the young actress, but
that doesn’t disguise the fact that by playing the role,
Hathaway’s merely treading ground that she’s stepped on
before. Because of that, it plays a little tired than what it
would’ve had another actress played the role. Again, she plays
the scruffy introvert. Again, she gets a makeover into blossoming
hottie. Again, she comes into some cash. And again, she has to come to
the conclusion that those in her life now, aren’t half the
friends – or lovers – as the ones that were there when she
had no fashion-sense or dollars in her account.
Hathaway is the naïve, unfashionable,
wannabe
journalist who comes to New York and scores a job as the assistant to
one of the city's biggest magazine editors, the ruthless and cynical
Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). She ultimately becomes the
matron’s right-hand woman, but at a price.
After an impressive turn in the recent
arthouse smash Brokeback
Mountain,
it would’ve been nice to have seen Hathaway do something just as
meaty. But she’s nothing to gnaw on here but sugar-coated candy.
Not that that’s a bad thing. In fact, it’s quite an
entertaining film – and it’s largely due to Hathaway.
She’s not just hot, she’s talented. And that’s
probably why it stings so much to see her repeating herself.
If you can overlook the fact that Prada is
merely Princess
Diaries : The Tweenage Years,
you will enjoy it. It isn’t a demanding film to watch –
coughing up plenty of laughs, good performances (Streep perfectly
underplaying the wicked witch role), and a kick-ass soundtrack.
It’s comfort food for the hungry, MTV-generation, cinemagoing
crowd.
If, on the other hand, you haven’t
seen The
Princess Diaries,
then you’re in luck. Go to it. You’ll enjoy this even more
than those that have [seen the latter], and will inevitably find
Hathaway’s performance both fantastic and fresh.
3 out
of 5
The
Devil Wears Prada
Australian release: 28th
September, 2006
Cast: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily
Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Tracie Thoms
Director: David Frankel
Website: Click
here.
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