22 September 2006
summer in review: the devil wears prada
i forgot to add this movie in my post yesterday as one more component in the summer of madonna, but it does sort of tangentially apply. prada prominently features two madonna songs, "vogue" and "jump," and all of the promotional materials (website, trailers, etc.) were highlighted by the former. in fact, it was because "jump" was being played in the trailer that i was so anxious to see it in the first place. but it turned out to be a surprisingly good flick in its own right.
when i went to see this movie, i was having a super bad day, and just wanted to get out of the house and watch something inane to get my mind off things. i thought prada would be a sort of fun, funny, chick flick that, at the very least, i could make fun of. that was sort of how it was reviewed (for the most part), but i actually think the reviewers missed the mark on this one. i thought it was surprisingly insightful and entertaining all at the same time.
prada reminded me of legally blonde or 10 things i hate about you: movies packaged in a sort of vapid exterior that, through good writing, storytelling and acting emerge as larger than the sum of their parts. on the surface this is a movie about a beautiful woman who isn't attractive enough (lol) to work in the fashion industry but nevertheless chooses to take on this new challenge, resulting in the woman finding new things out about herself. it seems hackneyed, formulaic and predictable. still, there are parts of this story that aren't exactly predictable and which stray from the cliche. and, more importantly, the way in which this story is told and the great acting from the entire cast made me think differently about this time worn narrative of personal progression.
i think this movie really spoke to me as a college student who perpetually or at least currently really feels in limbo. anne hathaway has recently graduated from college and either can't find a job or doesn't know what job to look for. for her, she is trying to find something that she is good at and something that challenges her and fulfills her. as a person who has never found any of the above myself but who really wants to, that definitely affected me. i think my other college friends would probably react similarly. in the end, her friends don't really understand her obsession with a job she doesn't even seem to like, but the irony is that it makes perfect sense to the viewer. this is the first time she has ever really tried to accomplish something and no matter what it is, she wants to master it. it made me simultaneously sad and hopeful when, in the end, she comes to her own success.
of course the best part of the movie is meryl streep, but that goes without saying. i mean you can see that even in the trailer. her screen turn as the diabolical miranda priestley definitely joins the annals of most evil film characters alongside cruella deville and the wicked witch of the west. but anne hathaway actually outperformed my expectations in the lead as well. her character held its own in this movie when it could have been totally outshined by her more interesting costars. i had never seen her in anything before other than her lamentably small role in bareback, but i definitely won't stray away from watching one of her films in the future. incidentally, emily blunt also made me smile as streep's evil-wannabe assistant. she has gotten some recent accolades for her performance, and they are well deserved.
there are probably three performances this summer so far that have been worthy of supporting noms in the spring, and two of them were done by ms. streep (the other was streep's sidekick lily tomlin in prairie home). i hope the bitch got to take a long vacation after all that! but i don't think it was a long one, considering imdb has her listed as starring in six movies in 2007. . . SIX! ¶ 9/22/2006 08:40:00 PM
i forgot to add this movie in my post yesterday as one more component in the summer of madonna, but it does sort of tangentially apply. prada prominently features two madonna songs, "vogue" and "jump," and all of the promotional materials (website, trailers, etc.) were highlighted by the former. in fact, it was because "jump" was being played in the trailer that i was so anxious to see it in the first place. but it turned out to be a surprisingly good flick in its own right.
when i went to see this movie, i was having a super bad day, and just wanted to get out of the house and watch something inane to get my mind off things. i thought prada would be a sort of fun, funny, chick flick that, at the very least, i could make fun of. that was sort of how it was reviewed (for the most part), but i actually think the reviewers missed the mark on this one. i thought it was surprisingly insightful and entertaining all at the same time.
prada reminded me of legally blonde or 10 things i hate about you: movies packaged in a sort of vapid exterior that, through good writing, storytelling and acting emerge as larger than the sum of their parts. on the surface this is a movie about a beautiful woman who isn't attractive enough (lol) to work in the fashion industry but nevertheless chooses to take on this new challenge, resulting in the woman finding new things out about herself. it seems hackneyed, formulaic and predictable. still, there are parts of this story that aren't exactly predictable and which stray from the cliche. and, more importantly, the way in which this story is told and the great acting from the entire cast made me think differently about this time worn narrative of personal progression.
i think this movie really spoke to me as a college student who perpetually or at least currently really feels in limbo. anne hathaway has recently graduated from college and either can't find a job or doesn't know what job to look for. for her, she is trying to find something that she is good at and something that challenges her and fulfills her. as a person who has never found any of the above myself but who really wants to, that definitely affected me. i think my other college friends would probably react similarly. in the end, her friends don't really understand her obsession with a job she doesn't even seem to like, but the irony is that it makes perfect sense to the viewer. this is the first time she has ever really tried to accomplish something and no matter what it is, she wants to master it. it made me simultaneously sad and hopeful when, in the end, she comes to her own success.
of course the best part of the movie is meryl streep, but that goes without saying. i mean you can see that even in the trailer. her screen turn as the diabolical miranda priestley definitely joins the annals of most evil film characters alongside cruella deville and the wicked witch of the west. but anne hathaway actually outperformed my expectations in the lead as well. her character held its own in this movie when it could have been totally outshined by her more interesting costars. i had never seen her in anything before other than her lamentably small role in bareback, but i definitely won't stray away from watching one of her films in the future. incidentally, emily blunt also made me smile as streep's evil-wannabe assistant. she has gotten some recent accolades for her performance, and they are well deserved.
there are probably three performances this summer so far that have been worthy of supporting noms in the spring, and two of them were done by ms. streep (the other was streep's sidekick lily tomlin in prairie home). i hope the bitch got to take a long vacation after all that! but i don't think it was a long one, considering imdb has her listed as starring in six movies in 2007. . . SIX! ¶ 9/22/2006 08:40:00 PM
