This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
The clothes make the man.
Plot Overview
Blousy, corn-fed
Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Anne Hathaway) hailing from Ohio
has secured a position as second assistant to redoubtable Miranda
Priestly (Meryl Streep) editor in chief of Runway fashion
magazine in NYC. Through
dint of application, sampled clothing, makeover, and diet, she
has made herself indispensable and is rewarded with a trip to
the annual Parisian fashion show. There she reevaluates the cost to
her in love, friendship, and dignity in pursuing this career
trajectory.
Ideology
Movies sometimes exalt the little guy, to make him feel good about himself. This one follows the pattern established in Proverbs: (Prov. 30:24) “There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:”
(Prov. 30:25)
“The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat
in the summer.” One normally associates summer with early
adulthood when working even a subsistence job the wise person
develops lifelong good work habits. Here Andy “was editor
in chief of the Daily Northwestern, won a national
competition for college journalism.” She and her friends drink
a toast “to jobs that pay the rent.” She's “smart,
learns fast, and will work very hard.” Miranda hired her “with
that impressive résumé and the big speech about your
so-called work ethic” even though she was hardly a fashionista.
(Prov. 30:26) “The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.” There the wolf at the door can't get at them. Andy wanting to be a journalist wisely went to New York where the publishing action is.
(Prov. 30:27) “The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands.” She develops her own contacts. The employment agency refers her to Elias Clarke Publishers (of Runway.) She enlists their fashion director Nigel Kipling (Stanley Tucci) to help her dress in style. And she taps established writer Christian Thompson (Simon Baker) to obtain a copy of an unavailable book her lady boss requires.
(Prov. 30:28) “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.” Palaces routinely get dusted but when the webs get cleaned out, the feisty spider strikes out for another vacant corner. Nigel tells her, “Let me know when your whole life goes up in smoke. Means it's time for a promotion.” Instructive is the way aging Miranda holds on when upper management tries to edge her out.
Production Values
“”
(2006) was directed by David Frankel. It was written by Aline Brosh
McKenna adapted from the novel by Lauren Weisberger. It stars
Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep and Adrian Grenier and also features Stanley
Tucci, Emily Blunt and Simon Baker. The acting was good throughout.
Andy's best friend of sixteen years Lily from Cincinnati (Tracie Thoms)
is black, which may seem unlikely in a city bordering hard on the
South (Kentucky) until we meet Andy's well-heeled dad. He comes to
visit and takes in Chicago
the musical.
In it, you may recall, the prison matron
Mama Morton (Queen Latifa) is a negress running the women's cell block
dispensing favors for pay. The lawyer is a shyster who represents
offenders for their dough. Andy's parents wanted her to pursue law
at Stanford but let her make up her own mind. Miranda commends her
for being able to “see beyond what people want, and what they
need and you can choose for yourself.” Andy chooses her
friends independently, too. Her boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier)
works all day in food preparation unshaven. Her gambling buddy Doug
(Rich Sommer) hosts poker parties at his place. And ebony Lily is
the quintessential jungle bunny latching onto a Bang and Olufsen
phone that resembles an elephant tusk and going berserk over bwana's
gift to her of an ostentatious purse. If there had been any parental
objections, they didn't matter.
MPAA rated it PG–13 for some sensuality. Andy was of easy virtue living with her boyfriend for years without thought of marriage and sleeping with the next one less than a week after breaking up with the first. She had no thought of commitment (“I'm not your baby.”) She admits to being “not so innocent” but she's fiercely loyal to her friends, family, and fellow workers.
The models were called clackers for the sound they made walking in six inch stilettos. This was evidently in tribute to the roaring twenties babes who had a short-lived fad of going about in unbuckled galoshes that flapped when they walked, giving rise to their nickname flappers who symbolized a whole era, an era that came to an end with the repeal of prohibition in 1933.
The cinematography is decent and the fashions lavish. The music is a little intrusive. The funniest takes are in the deleted scenes; I added a half star to my rating for them. Runtime is 1¾ hours.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
I went to college in Cincinnati but
it would be unfair for me to compare the women I pursued there with
Anne Hathaway. She is cosmetically not my type, though she
may have appealed to some of my friends. She was a good blank slate to
model clothes on. The men in this picture are window dressing and the plot
is predictable so guys who understandably don't get off on
fashions might be better off with another selection, though the picture
itself was well enough made. Chicks should enjoy it.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: No action, no adventure. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good for groups of fashion minded ladies. Suspense: Predictable. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
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