The Devil Wears Prada

If Lauren Weisberger’s bestseller was a Starbucks espresso — overall bland, but hot and quick — then David Frankel’s adaptation is the decaf version. The key plot ingredients remain. Aspiring journalist Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) falls into “the job a million girls would kill for”: personal assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), editor-in-chief of Runway magazine and the kingmaker of the fashion world. Miranda treats Andy more like an ass than like an assistant, and the long hours and haute couture lifestyle threaten the ingénue’s personal relationships. Frankel preserves the punchy tone and pace of the original but plays it Hollywood safe: Andy is ethnically neutral rather than Jewish, her beau a chef rather than an inner-city schoolteacher. Hathaway does her best Audrey Hepburn impression, but Streep dominates; her comic timing and multi-layered performance give the film a velvety, macchiato-dollop aftertaste.