The Devil Wears Prada offers moviegoers an inside look at the fashion world of New York and Paris where it takes being a size 2 and running your tail off to become a vital part of the runway world. Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) learns this on day one of her new job at Runway Magazine. A college graduate who wants a career as a journalist, she has applied to be an assistant to Runway’s editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep).

Miranda’s current assistant, Emily (Emily Blunt), practically laughs out loud when she gets a look at Andy. The girl wears old-lady clothes, doesn’t know a Valentino from a Galliano and her hair style makes her resemble a poodle. Emily seems certain Miranda will send Andy packing, and after listening to Emily go on about how she looks and what she doesn’t know, Andy feels sure she’s right.

When Miranda beckons Emily -- meaning Andy -- into the room, Emily explains that Miranda calls all her assistants Emily. Miranda gives Andy a disapproving look from head to toe and grills her about her intentions at the company. After Andy tries to play coy but realizes Miranda isn’t buying it, she comes clean and confesses that she doesn’t belong at the magazine. Miranda likes Andy’s honesty and hires her.

Andy doesn’t need any lessons from Emily or mentions from others about Miranda being the most powerful woman in fashion to realize immediately that her new boss is also a prima donna. Miranda throws out orders like a shark snapping at bate and insults her entire staff by the minute. Soon Andy is running through New York City fetching clothes, coffee and steak diners for Miranda -- and even walking her dog.

Still, Andy is determined to handle the job. Nate (Adrian Grenier), her boyfriend, and her other friends don’t like what’s happening to their easy-going and good-natured friend. They do like the nice gifts she brings them from work, however. But Andy’s cell phone is now an appendage to her body because she’s on call 24/7 by Miranda. Her demands don’t get any easier to carry out. One night while Andy dines with her father who’s visiting town, Miranda calls from Florida during a hurricane. She tells Andy all flights have been grounded and insists that Andy find her a plane ride back to New York immediately.

The Devil Wears Prada was adapted from Lauren Weisberger’s novel of the same name, but Meryl Streep is so good as Miranda one would think the role was written for her. Miranda is snide, formidable, critical, rude and demanding -- and Streep hits every beat of her character without even the hint of a smirk. She’s so bad, she makes us laugh. Sex and the City’s costume designer, Patricia Field, who created a style for Miranda, gathered designs from top designers and persuaded Valentino not only to design a gown for Streep but also to appear in the movie.

Wonderfully off-setting to the hard-nosed Miranda is her right-hand man, Nigel (Stanley Tucci). He’s worked for Miranda for years and knows her every tic. He takes Andy under his wing, re-dresses her, stuffs her feet into a pair of Jimmy Choos and sends her to the salon for a makeover. Everyone’s jaw drops when Andy emerges; she’s no longer an ugly duckling. This whole scenario, as is most of the film, is very predictable, but Streep reels us in with her fascinating performance.

Anne Hathaway does a good job as Andy. We believe she’s naive, especially when she meets fashion designer Christian Thompson (Simon Baker). He takes a shine to Andy right off the bat, admiring her genuineness, but sad that she has a boyfriend. Once she’s remade and becomes an official “clacker” (girls whose tall high-heels clack on the marble floors of the fashion magazine’s offices), Christian is let down. “You’ve crossed to the dark side,” he tells Andy.

As Andy starts spending every waking minute tending to Miranda’s demands, her home life begins to slip away. Nate accuses her of walking the walk and talking the talk of all the things she once made fun of. Andy agrees, suggesting that her upcoming trip to Paris with Miranda would be a good time for them to split up. While in Paris, everything Andy thought she believed comes under scrutiny.

Although The Devil Wears Prada is definitely a chick-flick, anyone who wants to see Streep in a sensational performance or loves the laughs Stanley Tucci is capable of delivering should enjoy the movie.

(Released by 20^th Century Fox and rated “PG-13” for some sensuality.)

Review also posted at www.reviewexpress.com.