THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

Director: David Frankel

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

Year: 2006

Rating: PG-13

Anne Hathaway shines - and, wonderfully, holds her own against none other than Meryl Streep - in a comedy about a young woman, freshly graduated from college, who moves to New York City in pursuit of a career as a journalist ... only to end up as the second personal assistant to a fashion magazine editor who makes the Marquis de Sade look like Mary Poppins.

You could write on a postage stamp what Andy Sachs (Hathaway) knows about fashion. And the girl couldn't care less about the subject, either, preferring oversized sweatshirts and jeans to anything even closely resembling haute couture. But she's desperate for a job, so when Andy makes it through HR at the high-profile Runway magazine and lands an interview for the second personal assistant position with fashion icon Miranda Priestly (whom Andy has never even heard of), she shows up for the initial interview dressed like Ugly Betty on her first day of work - already antagonizing the first personal assistant, Emily (Emily Blunt), who immediately rejects the girl as having any potential for the job.

But that's when Miranda herself strides into the office, dictating orders and terrorizing everyone within the sound of her voice. To say Miranda is high maintenance is a gross understatement, and to know her is to feel incompetent, so when she demands to interview Andy herself - citing Emily's incompetence at finding her a good second personal assistant - it's a real shocker when Miranda actually hires Andy, telling the girl that her total lack of fashion sense and style are maybe exactly what's needed in the office for a change, if she wants a serious employee not caught up in the business with an eye to only getting ahead.

Andy is thrilled - but soon learns just what hell it is to be a flunkie for Miranda. Running errands all around town, walking her dog, getting her coffee and meals (complete with strict rules on how all are to be prepared), phone calls at all time of day and night - all without a hint of appreciation, and all with the threat of unemployment (and maybe even having your face ripped off) hanging over your head if you so much as screw up one hastily-ordered task. Andy's over-demanding job soon begins to take its toll on her relationship with live-in boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier) and her friends ... and when a fashion editor at the magazine who is also Miranda's friend and right-hand man, Nigel (Stanley Tucci), takes Andy in hand - not only making her over, but teaching her a real appreciation for the industry - Andy starts becoming the very kind of woman she's always loathed, even as she starts moving up in both Miranda's eyes AND in her position at the magazine.

The Devil Wears Prada, based on the bestselling novel, is an intelligent and funny comedy with a fine cast headed by the can-do-no-wrong Meryl Streep. I sort of expected Streep's Miranda to be even more bitchy and vicious than she was, after a long time of hearing about this film and seeing bits of it on cable - but Streep reigns in the character well, giving her some humanity far beyond the ice-queen exterior. Hathaway, of course, is charming as Andy, almost pulling off the "plain Jane" bit at first, even though you know the true and startling beauty that she'll blossom into before The End; and even Tucci turns in an Oscar-worthy supporting performance as Nigel, while Emily Blunt is funny as the exasperated first personal assistant to "hell on heels."

Worth watching for Streep alone, this is a great comedy that may even have something to teach the nay-sayers, who just don't "get it" about why fashion is the multi-million dollar business it is. Ably directed by Marley & Me's David Frankel, this one is definitely more comedy than tearjerker - and well worth seeing - even if you can sort of see the ending coming a mile away. ***1/2 - Reel Cool-Reel Awesome