These Prada Boots Were Made for Walking–Right Out of the Movie

OK–I went to see “The Devil Wears Prada,” and I’m adding my two cents to those of The Other Charlotte and Allison.

Good Things:

1. The shoes. As a non-recovering al-shoe-holic, I was very pleased. They were fabulous, and there were plenty of them. And it’s nice to know that there’s one place in the world–fashion magazines–where high heels are positively encouraged and the wearers don’t get a stern lecture from the ideologues about how a) your feet will die if you wear them, or b) they’re sexist and patriarchal (required analogy to Chinese foot-binding thrown in gratis). This warmed me up to fashion magazines quite a bit. Perhaps I’ll apply for a job at one.

2. Emily. Emily (Blunt) playing Emily (the desk-mate of heroine Andy, about whom I’ll say many unkind things below) was superb, her high-strung stand-offishness masking deep insecurity, burning ambition, and a well of loneliness. She lit up the screen.

3. Nigel. Another superb acting job, by Stanley Tucci. He got the campy fashion photog just right without overly camping it. I love that Nigel told off Andy. I hated that stuck-up little whiner Andy (howdja guess?).

4. Boss Lady Miranda. Not Meryl Streep. Miranda. No I wouldn’t want to work for her. I wouldn’t even want to be her. But she rates an A+ for being tough and clever enough to survive in a world of smug, moralizing hypocrites out to get her job. What’s she supposed to do–act nicey-nice and find herself double-crossed by that dock-rat “writer” Doug (Rich Sommers)?

Bad Things:

1. Andy. Sorry, Allison, I know you’re an Anne Hathaway fan, and I liked her muchly myself in “The Princess Diaries.” Here, she was a drippy, oh-so-superior, know-it-all twit, managing to look dowdy even in $1,000 designer dresses (It didn’t help that these were some of the nerdiest, last season-looking (or maybe even last decade-looking) designer clothes I’d ever laid eyes on–more on that below). She was never sexy for an instant, even when supposedly slinking off to bed with the wormiest leading man I’ve ever seen, Adrian “Am I Hairy Enough for You?” Grenier, playing live-in boyfriend Nate the chef (hey, Nate–don’t let any of that that stubble fall into my soup!). Back to Anne/Andy (and more hair problems): Couldn’t you get your bangs out of your eyes for just one little scene?

2. Andy’s character. Not only was Andy homely; she was insufferable. Can’t Hollywood think of any other kind of “good” character than an intellectual-snob college newspaper editor whose claim to fame is a bunch of lefty articles about a janitors’ union? Why is it more “moral” to wear clunky rubber-soled clodhoppers to work rather than Jimmy Choos? To not comb your hair rather than comb it–don’t you think you could do a little good for the world by presenting people with something presentable to look at? I loved that not only did Nigel slap her down, but so did Miranda! Over and over! Go Miranda! Beat that snotty little Marxist to a Soviet flag-red pulp! Keep her up all night! Send her out on pointless errands! Make her cry! Yes! But most of all, break up her relationshiop with that creep Nate! Which you did! Good for you!

More, much more on “Prada” to come…..