Review: Acid-Tongued Streep Fires Up 'Devil Wears Prada'

'The Devil Wears Prada' (PG-13) (out of four)

Not since Cruella de Ville has evil looked and sounded as delicious as Meryl Streep playing fashion dictator Miranda Priestly in "The Devil Wears Prada."

But where Cruella cackled, Miranda rules with a low voice and not-so-subtle jabs at her employees' inability to make the impossible happen.

Miranda is the editor-in-chief of the fashion industry's gospel, "Runway" magazine. Her employees shake in their designer boots at the thought of displeasing the acid-tongued dragon lady who can ruin the careers of fashion designers, models and even magazine editors with a flick of her finely manicured finger and a curt and dismissive, "That's all."

It's no wonder Miranda can't keep an assistant, except for Emily (Emily Blunt), a lapdog sycophant who will do anything, including starving herself to fit into a size 0 dress, to worship at Miranda's feet and affect her imperious attitude.

Into this elitist world comes Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), a fresh-faced college graduate who wears off-the-rack sweaters and clodhopper shoes. Andy dreams of being a journalist, but she needs a job to pay the bills, so she somehow stumbles into an interview with the high priestess of fashion.

Amid snickers from the clackers (women who wear expensive stilettos that clack on the floor), Andy gives all the standard interview answers and admits she doesn't know the difference between Valentino and Jimmy Choo. Of course, she gets the job as Miranda's second assistant -- we wouldn't have a movie otherwise.

In some ways Andy is a lot like Miranda in that she doesn't want to admit defeat. She tries to stay true to herself and not bend to the fashion world mentality that if your outfit is 2 years old and you are a size 6, you are something to be pitied. In this world, if you are not in, you are out and if Andi wants to keep her job, she is going to have to fit in and finds fitting in comes with its own sense of humor.

With Hathaway in the role of Andy, it's hard not to equate the movie with "The Princess Diaries" -- wide-eyed girl gets thrown into fantasy world she is not equipped for, overcomes all obstacles and then realizes she may not want it after all.

Luckily, we have Streep playing the imperious Miranda. I shouldn't be surprised, but after recently seeing Streep in "A Prairie Home Companion," it still amazes me at how versatile and ego-less Streep is. She will do anything to create a character that serves the movie -- not her vanity.

Yes, Miranda is an over-the-top meanie, and with many actresses the role could have been overdone. Instead, Streep makes choices -- like choosing a low, almost monotone voice instead of screeching -- that make sense for the character and work like a charm and help set us up for the way Miranda deals with problems that crop up later in the movie.

I think my favorite character in the whole film, however, is Stanley Tucci as Nigel, the fashion director for "Runway." He has some of the best lines and he knows how to deliver them, but he doesn't give a one-note performance.

Of course, one of the most critical elements of "The Devil Wears Prada" is fashion. I may not be a big fashion expert, but the film got a lot of big-name haute couture designers to participate and Valentino even has a cameo. A lot of the credit for the designer coups can go to Patricia Field, who won an Emmy for "Sex and the City." The same daring and cutting edge she brought to Carrie and the girls, she brings to "The Devil Wears Prada."

There is a little male eye candy, as well, including Adrian Grenier (HBO's "Entourage") playing Andy's boyfriend, and sexy Aussy Simon Baker as a successful writer who has a thing for Andy.

Does "The Devil Wears Prada" make the cut? It trods some familiar territory with the eager young thing getting sucked into a fabulous world, only to find out it might not be as fabulous as it first seems. But this adaptation of the international best seller by Lauren Weisberger is almost as impossible to resist as a, well, a Prada design.