Release Date: June 30th, 2006

niche: n. A special area of demand for a product or service.

I site the definition for the word niche because of the fact that it will be a very pivotal word in the description of the 20th Century Fox Release The Devil Wears Prada, and I will be using it often in this particular review. But before I go and slenderize this film by calling it a niche film, I must first elaborate on what I am talking about when I combine the words niche and film. When speaking of a niche film, I am referring to films that serve a very specific segment of society, and to illustrate this I will take two very successful 2006 releases and show the difference. Sometimes these segments of society can be very large slices of the populous, as is the case with films like Superman Returns, where the mass appeal was limited but success was built on a large and loyal fan base. Then you get a film such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, where a mass appeal spawned a very large turnout in theaters. And I while I do understand that not everyone who saw Superman Returns was a huge comic book nerd, the fact that it did not do as well as predicted only illustrates my point further.

The Devil Wears Prada is in its essence a niche film. It stars Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs, a young plain Jane type from the Midwest who has traveled to New York and lucked into a job at the world renowned Runway Magazine. There she is tossed, almost against her will, into a world of fashion, backstabbing, and unfavorably high standards; all being orchestrated by the devil incarnate, Editor Miranda Priestly, played by the incomparable Meryl Streep.

While Andy has very little interest in fashion and even less of a taste for doing the bidding of Miranda Priestly, she knows that success in such a job would undoubtedly allow for plenty of opportunities in the world of New York journalism. She sets forth to take on the task of working the job “that millions of girls would kill for” and finds out that in order to win the game at the top of the fashion world, she must make some changes to her own life. And making such changes could put some of her closest personal relationships at risk.

The story is your standard rags to riches, ugly duckling scenario. In fact I am beginning to see a career trend for lead actress Anne Hathaway that consistently puts her in these kinds of roles. Her character of Andy is a sweet girl, but she plays up being naïve a little too much in this film. It is sad to see her regurgitating her role from The Princess Diaries; I would much rather see her take on more ambitious roles as an adult (a la Brokeback Mountain.) But while this is something that we have seen in the past from Ms. Hathaway, her character is palpable and does not bring down the film in any way.