The Devil Wears Prada (2006) * * *

Directed by:  David Frankel

Starring:  Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Adrian Grenier, Simon Baker

I approached The Devil Wears Prada as a stranger to the world of fashion.   I'm a guy who wears t-shirts and sweatpants mostly everywhere, so it is no surprise I never heard of Anna Wintour until this movie's release, and only because Meryl Streep said her Oscar-nominated performance (which one isn't?) was inspired by her.     Ms. Wintour took that as the highest compliment.    I hope I never have the pleasure to meet Ms. Wintour if this movie's Miranda Priestly is anything remotely like her.

Streep has a ball making everyone else's life miserable as she throws her coat and purse at her assistants and calmly, but degradingly, orders them around.     She is not interested in your problems or your life.    As the veteran assistant Emily (Blunt) tells newcomer Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Hathaway), she must devote herself 24/7 to the job and change her wardrobe immediately.     Not exactly in that order.   Andy is a recent Northwestern grad using Miranda's Runway magazine as a stepping stone to greater things.    She wants to be a journalist and her long term plans do not escape Runway lifer Nigel (Tucci), who is kind to her, but gives her sage advice about her employment and her wardrobe.   ("Others want to work here.   You only deign to work here")

Andy, after numerous introductory "foul ups" such as failing to land Miranda a flight home from Miami during a hurricane, straightens up her act and her wardrobe with help of Nigel.     She befriends the initially hostile Emily and becomes Miranda's right hand.    This is met with some consternation by Andy's boyfriend Nate (Grenier), who misses the old Andy who wasn't consumed by her job.    I don't know what kind of journalist Andy would turn out to be, but she is a loyal assistant who learns to sweetly look after Miranda, who is the last person in the world who needs looking after.

The Devil Wears Prada has moments of insight into Miranda.    She is seen without makeup and vulnerable in one scene in which she laments another pending divorce and the impact it will have on her twin daughters.     Miranda dotes on the girls; tasking Andy to obtain the latest Harry Potter novel for them to read.   No, not the one in the stores, but the unpublished manuscript of the next novel.    But her moment of self-pity and reflection is fleeting, and soon she is ordering Andy on to the next task.

Streep could have played Miranda as a screaming witch, but by underplaying her as a cold, condescending taskmistress who can't be bothered to raise her voice, she is all the more compelling.    She doesn't need to remind others of her power.    Employees straighten up their work areas and vacate the elevators at the mere mention of her arrival in the building.     An employee who accidentally walks into the same elevator as Miranda jumps out and profusely apologizes.    Why would anyone with that kind of power need to expend any more effort to exert it?

Hathaway, though, holds her own by staying as true to herself as possible, while growing into an assistant who takes her job seriously.     Blunt is at first a woman who disdains Andy and suffering from burnout, but softens up enough to become Andy's friend.    Emily dresses the part and gives her all, only to be disappointed that it is never enough.     Trying to get Miranda to acknowledge anyone's hard work is a fool's errand.

The Devil Wears Prada will appeal to fashion enthusiasts and those with bosses not unlike Miranda.    Is Miranda so demanding because she has to be, or because she can be?     Andy will soon realize the answer.    As will Miranda.