Devil Wears Prada (Blu-ray) (2006)

"Bright and crisp and funny...  David Denby, The New Yorker
"Briskly directed by "Sex and the City" veteran David Frankel...  Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide
"The devil may wear Prada, but Meryl wears the crown.  Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail
"You might have to reach back to "Funny Face" to find a fashion movie so on-trend.  Kyle Smith, New York Post
"Sinfully funny!  Rolling Stone
"Effortless fun: It plays like a giddy horror movie with its laughs wrapped in couture gowns.  Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian
"...a kicky, surprisingly astute throwback to bygone Hollywood social comedies.  Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

Editor's Note A drastic improvement on Lauren Weisberger?s bestselling novel, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA showcases Meryl Streep's knack for combining humor and sadness. While likely inspired by notorious VOGUE editor Anna Wintour, Streep's Miranda Priestly (head of Runway magazine) is entirely her own creation. Sporting silvery hair, a vast collection of fur coats, an encyclopedic knowledge of all things fashionable, and a killer smile, Miranda is full of wicked charm. With her mature beauty and commanding presence, Miranda is as fascinating to watch as she is intimidating to the constant rotation of assistants thrown her way. When bookish Northwestern grad Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) interviews to become Miranda's newest lackey, Miranda hires her not for her lackluster wardrobe but for her intellect. Inside the pristine Runway offices, Andy suffers through a never-ending list of impossible tasks, and is the subject of constant harassment by Miranda's jealous first assistant (Emily Blunt). But to the dismay of her boyfriend (Adrian Grenier) and close friends, Andy slowly finds herself seduced by the glamorous world of fashion, and by Miranda herself. While Andy's transformation comes largely in the form of new designer clothing, the makeover is mental as well. What starts out as a firm belief in fashion's vapidity and in Miranda's heartlessness gradually fades into the suspicion that the boss from hell might just be hiding a soul. While the book villainized its title character, the film gives new depths to her wrath. As Andy trades her undergrad wardrobe for one packed with Prada and Chanel (with help from Stanley Tucci in a brilliant role), viewers are able to savor the work of costume designer Patricia Field. Together with director David Frankel (who also worked on SEX AND THE CITY), Field creates a world of fashion so wonderfully extreme it would be hard for anyone to resist.

	Anne Hathaway
	Emily Blunt
	Meryl Streep
	Stanley Tucci
	Aline Brosh McKenna - Screenplay
	Chris Trapper - Original Music By
	David Frankel - Director
	Florian Ballhaus - Cinematographer
	Joseph M. Caracciolo, Jr. - Executive Producer
	Lauren Weisberger - Based On Novel By
	Mark Livolsi - Editor
	Theodore Shapiro - Original Music By
	Wendy Finerman - Producer

Rolling Stone
3 stars out of 5 -- "[A] sinfully funny, deliciously glossy [film]....[Streep's] performance is a comic and dramatic tour de force." 07/13/2006 p.125

Entertainment Weekly
"[W]e haven't seen our Meryl like this until now, relishing the role as if it were the swellest Best of Everything achievement award a 13-time Oscar nominee could receive." -- Grade: B 06/30/2006 p.137

New York Times
"[Ms. Streep's] perfectionism has rarely seemed so apt....[Ms. Blunt's performance] is a minor tour de force of smiling hostility." 06/30/2006 p.E1

Box Office
3 stars out of 5 -- "[I]mpressively free of black-and-white characterizations." 08/01/2006 p.40

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he real pleasure...is watching Meryl Streep brilliantly colour her glamorous gorgon with shadings of vulnerability..." 11/01/2006 36

Sight and Sound
"[A] voyeuristic treat....Streep's performance is as supple as a kid glove, evoking both the loneliness and erotic charge of ultimate power..." 10/01/2006 p.52

Premiere
3 stars out of 4 -- "[A]n appealing comedy....A series of engaging moments filled with beautifully dressed and extremely talented people." 01/01/2007 p.106

Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "This is a rare example of when an adaptation is superior to the novel..." 03/01/2007 p.104

Wall Street Journal
"The devil gets her due in a movie that's leagues better than its source material....With the glorious Meryl Streep giving a nuanced performance in the title role." 08/28/2009

ReelViews 8 of 10
The Devil Wears Prada is two films in one: a caustic, energetic satire of the fashion world and a cautionary melodrama. The first works; the second doesn't. Fortunately, the running time of the former doubles that of the latter, making The Devil Wears Prada more of a hit than a miss. In fact, even through some of the weaker parts, there are still strong performances by standouts Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci...Anne Hathaway gives a vanilla performance. She has little presence and tends to blend in with the scenery. Despite being the supposed lead, she is upstaged by supporting performers. Meryl Streep gets top billing but has less screen time; nevertheless, her humanized Cruella De Vil dominates scenes. Emily Blunt, who made an impression in My Summer of Love, is rarely outshone, nor is Stanley Tucci. When Streep, Blunt, and Tucci are together, the scene crackles with energy. When none of them are present, The Devil Wears Prada slips into a black hole. Fortunately, such instances are rare...On balance, I enjoyed the film, despite the whiny final half hour and the artificial conclusion. (Whatever happened to hard-edged endings in satires?) I recognize that the film is being marketed toward women, but I see no reason why men can't enjoy what The Devil Wears Prada offers. The kind of corporate culture that comes under assault by Frankel isn't isolated to the fashion industry; viewers might be surprised at the universality of some of the targets. With so many "loud" movies opening in multiplexes, it's refreshing to find something that provides a change of pace. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
Meryl Streep is indeed poised and imperious as Miranda, and Anne Hathaway is a great beauty ("Ella Enchanted," "Brokeback Mountain") who makes a convincing career girl. I liked Stanley Tucci, too, as Nigel, the magazine's fashion director, who is kind and observant despite being a careerist slave. But I thought the movie should have reversed the roles played by Grenier and Baker. Grenier comes across not like the old boyfriend but like the slick New York writer, and Baker seems the embodiment of Midwestern sincerity, which makes sense, because he is from Australia, the Midwest of the southern hemisphere. - Roger Ebert

Salon.com 5 of 10
David Frankel's "The Devil Wears Prada" is probably supposed to be half fashion fantasy, half satire of the fashion world. What a drag that it's not enough of either. Its heroine, Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), is a sweet, cornfed, non-fashion-obsessed recent college graduate who miraculously (and inexplicably) lands a job as an assistant to the most formidable fashion-magazine editor in the land, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep)...You'd expect the fashion in "The Devil Wears Prada" to be spectacular, particular since Hathaway, whose figure is voluptuous and willowy at once, is bound to look great in pretty much anything...But the outfits, with the exception of a rapid-fire montage in which Hathaway sports everything from '60s-style tweed newsboy caps to spy-girl trench coats to sleek, over-the-knee boots, are a bummer. The costuming here is by the much lauded Patricia Field, a longtime fixture of the downtown New York scene...She's the costumer responsible for the increasingly outlandish (and often absurdly unflattering) get-ups worn by the stars of "Sex and the City" during that show's run...Field doesn't go quite so wild here. But she does put Andy into a few outfits that tread too boldly into fashion-victim territory...Are we supposed to be laughing at, or disapproving of, Andy's newfound (and temporary) interest in fashion, so we'll be proud of her when she moves on to worthier pursuits? Maybe. But then, Andy's character needs to show more sparks of intelligence, and more honorable chutzpah, than the movie allows her. No one likes a wet blanket. Not even one by Dolce and Gabbana. - Stephanie Zacharek