The Devil Wears Prada (PG-13, 2006)

In THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, socially conscious journalism major Andy (Anne Hathaway) takes a job at Runway fashion magazine as second assistant to ruthless editor Miranda (Meryl Streep). Andy is told repeatedly that if she survives a year, she'll be able to get a job at any magazine, but has no idea how tough her year will be: Her primary jobs are fetching coffee and outfits from various designers around town, and running personal errands for Miranda. Andy is also at the beck and call of first assistant Emily (Emily Blunt). Worse, she's reminded daily that her clothes are ugly and that she's "fat" (at size six). Art director Nigel (Stanley Tucci) gives Andy a makeover and devotes herself to pleasing Miranda, leaving her live-in boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier) and best friend Lilly (Tracie Thoms) feeling abandoned. But even as she's seduced by a cynical writer (Simon Baker) and enticed by the sense of power the fashion folks claim for themselves, Andy never loses her moral sensibility.

Sometimes over-the-top and sometimes sentimental, Prada is most notable for Meryl Streep's remarkably subtle performance as super-diva Miranda Priestly. While the movie loves its costumes and montages (often together), the plot is creaky and the target far too easy: Everyone knows the world of haute couture is cutthroat, imperious, and lurid.

Streep's Miranda is complex and compelling. Though her outfits and superciliousness are as outrageous as everyone else's, Miranda tends to speak quickly and quietly, to assume her supremacy even as she's vulnerable.