Well, Meryl Streep does it again. It’s amazing how she alternates between high drama roles and relatively flippy-floppy ones in comedies, yet sustains the high quality of her acting. This was a flippy-floppy film, but perfectly entertaining for a couple of hours, mainly thanks to Streep’s character and some memorable on-liners.

She plays Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief of Runway magazine – a character which many have suggested was modelled on Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of U.S. Vogue. Apparently Wintour is just as much the über-bitch that Priestly is in The Devil Wears Prada. To her credit though, Wintour must have a sense of humour as she attended the premiere of TDWP dressed in… yes, Prada.

Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) wants to be a journalist and gets a job as Miranda Priestly’s second-assistant quite by chance. Although it’s a job “millions of girls would die for”, she was hoping for a job at a more journalistic magazine. When she hears that spending one year as Miranda’s assistant will open many doors to her in the world of journalism, she decides to stick with it. Sticking with it turns out to be a lot harder than she could have foreseen and Miranda’s ridiculous requests (like insisting Andy obtain a copy of the latest Harry Potter manuscript for her children before the book has been published) make for some funny scenes.

For the rest, director David Frankel lays on the “fashion industry is shallow and hard as nails” message strongly. The better Andy gets at her job, the more her private life goes down the drain. The usual difficulty in balancing work and private life is exacerbated by the fast-pace and bitchiness of the industry she is caught up in. Moral dilemma’s in abundance.

It’s entertaining to watch Streep be a complete and utter bitch – she plays it well. I had a little difficulty believing that Andy would accept all the abuse if she wasn’t that keen on the fashion industry – but okay, poetic licence gets us a long way.