The plot basically involves a wide-eyed aspiring college student from the Midwest taking a job at high fashion magazine Runway. She is to be the personal secretary to the mag's tyrannic editor-in-chief. Our wide-eyed heroine soon finds herself seeking to conform to the values embodied by her co-workers and superiors. In so doing, she nearly loses herself. The climax of the picture is when she walks out on her job during an important business trip to Paris. She then returns to her dream of "real" journalism, and finds herself again. This plot theme seemed somewhat familiar to me.
The film was enjoyable enough, but the main plot device did seem tried. Despite this, there was just enough going on to keep my interest. This was mainly due to the admirable acting done by Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and most of the supporting cast. I really found myself caring about what happened to the characters.
The movie also made sure to point out how much high fashion matters, and how it affects the clothes worn by everyone in the developed world (i.e. a top designer's color scheme finds its way into the bargain store sweaters). The movie rings slightly false for me, though, when it suggests that Hathaway's character is purchasing her bargain clothes to intentionally avoid the influence of the fashion community. While some people may in fact do this, I suspect most are somewhat ignorant of what usually goes on in the fashion world. In my experience few have either the time or the desire to intentionally avoid the influence of fashion.
The film is eminently watchable, though in skipping it you will miss nothing essential in the realm of cinema. I give it 3 antelopes.
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