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Currentfilm.com Review:
Every year has to have a few surprise hits in film, but this year, none have been quite as big as "The Devil Wears Prada", a $35M picture that went on to gross nearly $125M. The time certainly couldn't be better for the film, as "Project Runway" and "America's Top Model" has created more mainstream interest in the fashion industry.
The film, based on the book by Lauren Weisberger, opens with Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) showing up at Runway magazine for her latest job interview. Studying to be a journalist, Andy doesn't have any interest in fashion and, at first, doesn't exactly fit in with the office atmosphere, a fact pointed out to her by everyone she crosses paths with. Although she thinks she doesn't do very well in her interview icy editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), she's shocked when she gets the gig.
The movie follows Andy as she goes from being a frumpy wallflower to a fashion queen, all while toiling under Miranda, who remains demanding 24/7, driving Andy apart from boyfriend Nate (Adrien Grenier, of "Entourage".) So, what we have here at the core of the movie is the traditional story of frumpy girl gets glammed up by new co-workers, caught up in her job and forgets about life and love and all that. It's "Coyote Ugly", only with designer clothes and an office instead of a bar.
The film's best moments are in the office, where Hathaway does a fine job playing off Streep, who deserves awards notice for creating a nightmare of a boss and yet, giving pleasing depth to the character. Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt are also superb as co-workers. It's when the film heads outside the office that the picture starts to fall apart. Nate can't be supportive of Andy's new job, he has to be all upset, so that Andy has to choose between her job, Nate and a journalist (Simon Baker) whose work she admires. Oh, and her one-dimensional friends no longer like the "new" Andy. All of the material focusing on Andy's personal life just feels forced and formulaic, which results in the picture losing some steam whenever it leaves the workplace.
Still, "Prada"'s fast and funny during the workplace sequences, and having the trio of Blunt, Tucci and Streep (all of whom are terrific) to play off of results in a bright, engaging performance from Hathaway that's her best yet.
The DVD
VIDEO: "The Devil Wears Prada" is presented by 20th Century Fox in 2.35:1 (1080p/MPEG-2). The presentation looks terrific, and above-average for a comedy presentation (although the sleek, beautiful cinematography by Florian Ballhaus certainly helps.) The picture isn't one of those instances of a high-def presentation where it's so insanely detailed that you can spot pores on an actor's face, but it does at least remain quite crisp and well-defined throughout the show (and look noticably improved over the DVD.) The picture does boast pleasing depth, especially on the scenes on the streets of NYC.
The presentation does show some minor noise, but no pixelation, edge enhancement or print flaws were seen. Colors remained bold and vibrant, with excellent saturation and no smearing or other faults. Black level remained solid, while flesh tones appeared accurate and natural. While not without a few minor concerns, this was - overall - a very enjoyable presentation of the film.
SOUND: The film is presented on Blu-Ray in DTS-HD 5.1. The film's sound design is essentially a "comedy mix", with the majority of the film's audio spread across the front speakers. Surrounds do kick in on occasion for some slight reinforcement of the music, but otherwise, they remained silent. Audio quality was fine, with crisp dialogue and bassy, rich-sounding tunes. The DTS-HD presentation on the Blu-Ray does give the tunes a little more oomph than they had on the DVD's Dolby Digital presentation, but overall, the differences are fairly minor.
EXTRAS: Unfortunately, none of the featurettes that were included on the DVD edition have been brought over here.
The main extra is an audio commentary from director David Frankel, editor Mark Livolsi, costume designer Patricia Field, screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, producer Wendy Finerman and cinematographer Florian Ballhaus.
A gag reel runs for 5 minutes and provides plenty of funny bloopers, including a few priceless Streep slip-ups. 15 deleted scenes are offered, with commentary from the director and editor. The scenes are interesting to see and some provide some enjoyable character moments. However, it's also apparent that most of these bits don't really advance the story and could go for pacing reasons.
The Blu-Ray does get one exclusive feature - a trivia track, which is a little better than these kinds of things usually are.
Final Thoughts: "Prada"'s fast and funny during the workplace sequences, and having the trio of Blunt, Tucci and Streep (all of whom are terrific) to play off of results in a bright, engaging performance from Hathaway. The Blu-Ray ups the audio/video quality, but drops a few extras. While owners of the DVD set don't particularly need to rush out to upgrade, those in the market to get the film for the first time should consider the Blu-Ray edition.
Film Grade
The Film B
Blu-Ray Grades
Video 90/A-
Audio: 88/B
Extras: 80/B-
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