The Devil and Meryl Streep
Send your movie questions to
FlickChick.
I love talking about movies, but I've never been able to organize movie-night get-togethers. So this is the next best thing: On Tuesdays I'm going to spotlight a DVD and suggest some virtual-discussion starters.
The Devil Wears Prada was one of the biggest surprises of the year for me (
Apocalypto was another, but that's a conversation for some other time). It was a big, sleek, mainstream Hollywood movie that I enjoyed from beginning to end, despite its conflicted message. I don't mean to imply that I automatically dread Hollywood movies, but I picked up the book on which this one was based and found it so shallow and irritating that I couldn't finish the first chapter. And I can read just about anything.
It probably doesn't hurt that I work down the street from Condé Nast and have see the needle-toed ranks of the Condé Nasties striding down the street with their "I'm too fine to talk to anyone carrying last season's bag" affectations. I also worked for years in nonprofit (the New York City Ballet), which earned me a front-row seat to the fashionistias-in-action show at galas and fund-raising cocktail parties.
But the real pleasure of
The Devil Wears Prada for me was what a throwback it is to the glory days of
Mildred Pierce and other Hollywood melodramas about women who unsex themselves to advance their careers. Which sounds very un-PC, I know. But the fact is, that story hasn't changed as much as you might think.
And
Devil is buoyed by amazing performances, led by
Meryl Streep 's Miranda Priestly, a steely virago in haute couture. Yes, she's a thinly fictionalized variation on real-life
Vogue editor Anna Wintour, but she's also an astonishing creation by an actress who's often underrated because she's made the mistake of doing too many things too well for too long.
Anne Hathaway can't match her sheer virtuosity and years of experience, but she's talented, and acting opposite someone of such high caliber serves to boost her performance.
Emily Blunt (of the fantastic and under-seen
My Summer of Love) and
Stanley Tucci lead the supporting cast, and they're both right on the money.
For me, the great thing about
The Devil Wears Prada is that you can watch it with a diverse crowd: There's something for die-hard movie buffs, something for people who just want a fun story, something for closet celebrity-gossip addicts. And for a glossy mainstream comedy, it packs a nasty little sting.
Things to consider:
The cream of classic Hollywood melodramas were sharp, bracing examinations of social mores and the way women negotiated the rules of the game. Now "melodrama" has become an insult, a synonym for sloppy and sentimental. How did the genre become so despised?
In the end, smart aspiring journalist Andrea Sachs (Hathaway) realizes that she has to get out of the fashion-mag business before it entirely devours her soul. Is it really impossible to work in a viciously competitive commercial environment and maintain your ideals and dignity?
Why do so many people delight in mocking Meryl Streep for her flawless command of the tools of her trade, particularly accents?
Why, a full 35 years after the feminist movement became a mainstream phenomenon and at a time when women hold increasingly powerful and high-profile positions in business, government and the press, is the dragon lady who gave up her family life for a career still such a powerful archetype?
Remember: Send your movie questions to
FlickChick.
Previous DVD blogs:
Pandora's Box
The Thief and the Cobbler
Nashville
Panic in the Streets and our Jack Palance interview
The Pusher Trilogy
Scarface
Slither
Sunset Blvd.
In Cold Blood
Brick
Also:
This week's new DVD releases
