The Devil Wears Prada (Dr. Worm)

So The Devil Wears Prada is actually pretty good. This is not what I expected when the TMBC Illuminati suggested it as our next movie of the month, but I was pleasantly surprised.

My initial hesitation probably stems from the fact that this movie is marketed almost exclusively to females, which I took to mean one thing: chick flick. And I can appreciate a good chick flick as much as the next reasonably sensitive guy -- I enjoyed My Best Friend's Wedding, for example -- but in general the prospect of chick flicks doesn't set my heart racing.

You can imagine my confusion, then, when -- sitting beside fellow critics Wicked Little Critta and Stormy Pinkness (both girls), in a movie theater filled with women -- I actualy found myself enjoying this movie. In fact, that very idea frightened me a little bit. Would I soon prefer salads over beef? Would my interest in sports start waning? In short, were my testicles shrinking?

I'm pleased to report, however, that none of these fears were warranted. I didn't enjoy the movie because I was becoming a chick; I enjoyed it because it's not a chick flick.

Now I understand that some of you may balk at this. How can a movie in which the two leads are female and which is almost wholly concerned with the fashion industry not be a chick flick? Well, here are three big reasons why The Devil Wears Prada does not fall into the "chick flick" category.

1. Chick flicks are obscenely predictable. The Devil Wears Prada is not. I'm not saying it's an edge-of-your-seat, keep-you-guessing thrill-ride, but at least you don't know the ending just by looking at the movie poster.

2. Chick flicks are typically pretty shallow. Really, they're just about biological urges. Sure, they claim to be about "true love" and all that, but they're really about what every female wants: to find a partner with the best genes possible so as to pass favorable traits on to her offspring. The Devil Wears Prada, however, is not shallow at all--shocking for a film that centers around fashion. Instead, The Devil Wears Prada asks relevant and cutting questions about human mutability, about the nature of commitment, and the all-important (for this generation) quandry of how to balance career and personal life.

3. Chick flicks tend to be dishonest. The insidious message that chick flicks send is that each human being has a perfect match out there, so if you are unhappy in your current relationship it's because you're with the wrong person. This sentiment, I believe, is largely responsible for our society's staggeringly high divorce rate, and chick flicks have for many years contributed to the acceptance and prevalence of this myth of the "perfect match." I could go on here, but I really only mention this to compare it to The Devil Wears Prada, which is a surprisingly honest movie. There is a seemingly "perfect" guy in the mix to tempt our heroine, but much to my relief this movie didn't dabble in the aforementioned dark arts of chick flicks (and that's all the spoiling I'll do on that topic.)

But the movie is in fact quite honest in showing our herione to be, like everyone else in the movie (and the world), a flawed human being. And she behaves the way a human being might in her situation. Characters in this movie don't overreact to petty offenses for seemingly no other reason than to throw a wrench into the plot, and there are no absurd twists based on miscommunications (both chick flick staples). When you see the movie, you believe the events in it could really happen--even though some of the characters are comically farcial. But I suppose that's because the novel that spawned the movie is based on real events from author Lauren Weisberger's life.

I suppose no two words better describe this film than "exceeds expectations." If there's any exception to that, it's the acting, but that's no dig. Anne Hathaway is charming as Andy Sachs and Meryl Streep effortlessly chews scenery as Miranda Priestly, Andy's boss. But both actresses have impressed before, so seeing them succeed here is expected. But for the plot, the script, the supporting cast, and the suprising freshness the movie demonstrates, "exceeds expectations" is a perfect modifier.

And it's especially apt for the title. I first read the title as, "Okay, her boss is really mean, so she's the devil, and because she works in fashion she wears Prada." Fortunately, the title is much deeper than that. It refers instead to the Faustian offer that Miranda presents for Andy: Work for her, and Andy will soon be able to do anything she dreams of, careerwise. But, as Andy learns, she may just lose her friends, her humanity, and her soul in the process.

And if I had to condense all these thoughts into a single number, I'd condense them into the number 9.