So you already knew Meryl Streep would rock in The Devil Wears Prada – she’s Meryl Streep, for cryin’ out loud. But just how hard? Our own Lisa Schwarzbaum raves that "Streep has noodled around with comedy before — air kisses are in order for her great silliness in the Lemony Snicket movie, and her hilarious ball-busting in the remake of The Manchurian Candidate. But we haven’t seen our Meryl like this until now, relishing the role as if it were the swellest Best of Everything achievement award a 13-time Oscar nominee could receive." Do other critics agree? I perused this morning’s Prada reviews from newspapers and magazines across the country to find out. Here’s a sampling of the love-fest:
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: "Condolence cards need be sent, written in blood, to Cruella De Vil, Martha Stewart and the ghost of Joan Crawford from Mommie Dearest. There’s a new bitch on the block, and all others must fall beneath her stiletto heels… Every bloodshot eyeball must stay glued to Streep and [co-star Stanley] Tucci, who will surely walk the red carpet at the next Oscars, with nods for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor."
Kyle Smith, New York Post: "She freezer-burns the screen, but [Anne Hathaway’s character] Andrea learns respect for Miranda in a scene where the boss is caught without makeup, literally and figuratively stripped. It’s a prototypical Oscar moment in which Streep plays the kind of stunned composure that suggests a stricken Queen Elizabeth, only with cooler clothes, more power and better-looking children."
Jack Garner, Gannett News Service: "How good is Meryl Streep as the fierce fashion editor in The Devil Wears Prada? Good enough to expand her record of Oscar nominations to 14. Heck, come next year, she might even win her third statuette."
Katherine Monk, Vancouver Sun: "Streep is the best actress of her generation — perhaps of our time — and that means Miranda never really manifests as Satan… Streep is fearless in her performance, and it’s her willingness to go places other actors fear to tread that makes her such a pleasure to watch. One scene actually caused the audience to gasp collectively because Streep allowed her character to look ‘unpolished’ in a moment of extreme vulnerability."
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "Every third movie or so, Meryl Streep does something swell — and effortless, which isn’t one of her defining qualities — to renew her membership in the Great Actress pantheon. The Devil Wears Prada … [is] an occasion for Streep to play against a stereotype, and win. It’s a rout, in fact. Lowering both her voice and her destroy-the-minion gaze, Streep adds lethal dashes of imperious nastiness as well as subtle pathos to a potentially monotonous gorgon."
Keith Phipps, The A.V. Club: "Sometimes actors get parts so rich that they almost can’t help but make meals of them. Playing a frosty, high-powered editor in The Devil Wears Prada, Meryl Streep turns the role into a four-course dinner and shows up with her own dessert… It’s a diva turn in a diva part. It’s tempting to applaud at the end of her scenes."
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide: "The trouble isn’t that it’s chick lit — Jane Austen wrote chick lit — but that it’s a shallow compendium of brand names and whining. Streep is the answer to what ails it: Her magnificently nuanced Miranda is a monster of monumental proportions, across whose face ghostly glimpses of a fully realized person who made herself horrible flicker briefly."
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: "But aside from the soft-goods porn (there’s also a green velvet coat so fabulous that it deserves several paragraphs of its own, but, alas, won’t get them), there’s another compelling reason to watch this movie. Meryl Streep… coolly tosses down a performance that’s perfection. Placed side-by-side with her wistful, ditzy Yolanda Johnson in A Prairie Home Companion — two roles that couldn’t be further apart — it’s like a master class in film acting."
Jennifer Frey, Washington Post: "Miranda is riveting — when she’s in the room, every muscle fiber of every other human being in her general proximity is acutely aware of, in awe of, and afraid of her presence. When Streep’s on the screen, she has the same effect on her audience; she totally commands every scene."
Claudia Puig, USA Today: "Streep, known best for her stellar dramatic work, has perfect comic timing. She’s more subtle than her literary counterpart, but her delivery is exquisitely stinging. The veteran actress takes something as simple as Miranda’s signature ‘That’s all’ dismissal and delivers it with an off-handed, narcissistic menace that is both hilarious and chilling."
Comments (1-21) of 21 Add your comment
After all this time, I was waiting for a good “gay” song to come out for the summer but it turns out it’s going to be a movie. I can’t wait to see this one; even more anxious to see it on DVD. This will go great with my Sex and the City, Working Girl, Pretty Woman, and Evita collection!
Viva la gay!
Two words to describe the Best Actress Race for the Oscars in 2007:
Meryl. Streep.
Enough said.
MERYL STREEP is MERYL STREEP. A Hollywood Icon. This is the most exciting movie this Summer! Can’ wait to see it this weekend!
Will someone just give her the Oscar already! Now, damn it! That’s all.
Did he really say, “Jane Austen wrote chick lit”?!?!? For shame!
Jane Austin did write the chick lit of her time. Just because it’s called that doesn’t make it un-smart or unworthy of notice. If you look at the storylines of Austin-young women falling in love, planning marrigaes, hooking up, trying to keep their estates in the family-it’s not all that different from the plotlines in todays “chick-lit”. What makes a writer great is that they bring a depth and sould to those plot lines. I don’t think Jane Austin would have a problem with her writing being called chick-lit except for the fact that people like you take that label and autimatically percieve it as crap.
Just like in all types of writing there is crap in hystorical novels, crap in literary fiction, crap in horror and romance, etc. ad nausea but for some reason say the word chick-lit and all of the books considered in that genre are crap. Beleive me, there’s a lot of it that is crap, but some of it has merrit. Don’t judge a book by it (stylishly pink) cover.
Not sure about an Oscar, but definitely a Golden Globe. I though Miranda Priestly lacked an epic bee-yotch scene, truly vicious and delicious. Let me know what you think:
http://www.moviemartin.blogspot.com
Loved the book,just saw the movie: Fantastic! Meryl is the heart and soul of the film. Can’t think of anyone else who could do such justice to the role. Oscar now, please.
Beh. I’m sure that Streep gives a very good performance in this, but let’s be real here: if it were the same performance but delivered by somebody else, NO ONE would be talking Oscar. Which is actually sort of a shame. People are trained to treat certain movies as Oscar movies. Quietly great performances in movies that fall outside that realm are rarely ever recognized.
I’d like to see her get another Oscar, but I’m not sure the Academy is brave enough. She’s so consistently amazing that I think the voters see giving her an award as an uncreative cliche. Sadly, it also depends on the studio’s willingness to campaign for her.
So those critics liked Meryl Streep? I couldn’t tell…
How couldn’t you? You can obviously tell they love her. Everywhere I read a review about Meryl’s performance.. it’s all positive.
I’m guessing you were being sarcastic.
I know she’s in her 50s, and she has silver hair in the picture, but damn, she looks hot.
i say her and Jack are the 2 best living actors
Streep is wonderful. The reason it deserves Oscar consideration is that in the hands of even a slightly less skilled actress, it wouldn’t have worked on such an exquisite level. It is funny, tart, and subtle. Each line is delivered perfectly. Streep knew that the part needed to be underplayed in an icy manner, not with over-the-top campiness. That is what makes an actress great.
…hello!? doesn’t anyone remember how great streep did comedy in “postcards from the edge”?…
“…is that a comedy RULE?…”
Oh my god, thank you Meryl for giving me ideas for my next drag costume. I can just see myself looking just like her with one of those cigerette holders, the long and lean ones ; )
Meryl steals the movie.. whatever movie she is in, bad or good.. you instinctly sympathize with her role as real. Great actress.
Meryl will be nominated, but she won’t win for this, especially since the Academy rarely gives Best Actress to comedic work. With Annette Bening (“Running With Scissors”), Nicole Kidman (“Fur”) and the British equivalent of Streep, Helen Mirren, (“The Queen”)showing up at year’s end, it’s way too early to start the Streep coronation. In my opinion, if “The Queen” gets a solid theatrical launch, it’s Mirren’s to lose.
This movie was perfectly cast! No one but Meryl could have done it, and I Anne wasn’t that bad either! I can’t wait to see her in Becoming Jane! As for her other comedic performances, I have always found them great! I Death Becomes Her is an all time fave!
If Meryl Streep wins the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actress, then I can die at peace. Think about this, Oscar voters: no other seasoned actor could have played Miranda Priestly as brilliantly as Meryl did. Annette Bening for instance could have been so boring with her usual panic-and-stress-stricken voice delivery and facial stiffness. Bening is the same with all her intense neurotic roles. In other words, The Devil Wears Prada has become a classic movie all because of Meryl. In a word, she deserves her third Oscar after ridiculously more than 20 years now. “That’s all.”