The Devil Wears Prada
Fox 2000 Pictures | Release Date: June 30, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
14
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
New York PostKyle Smith
If you can tell the difference between a mule and a pump, attendance at The Devil Wears Prada is mandatory. You might have to reach back to "Funny Face" to find a fashion movie so on-trend. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Effortless fun: It plays like a giddy horror movie with its laughs wrapped in couture gowns. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Bright and crisp and funny, the movie turns dish into art--or, if not quite into art, then at least into the kind of dazzling commercial entertainment that Hollywood, in the days of George Cukor or Stanley Donen, used to turn out. Read full review
80
EmpireHelen O'Hara
This smart and funny creation is not just wish-fulfilment for the "Sex And The City" generation -- it's a Wall Street for the 21st century. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The story is glossy junk begat of just-plain junk anyway: Lauren Weisberger, who wrote the hiss-and-tell roman à clef best-seller on which the picture is based, was herself an assistant to Wintour. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Sinfully funny. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
It's an occasion for Streep to play against a stereotype, and win. It's a rout, in fact. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The Devil Wears Prada is two films in one: a caustic, energetic satire of the fashion world and a cautionary melodrama. The first works; the second doesn't. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Though there is enough haute couture on display for a season of "Sex and the City" envy, it has definite off-the-rack appeal to regular moviegoers. In fact, it may be the one film this year where you'll see Manolo Blahniks and Doc Martens on women sitting in the same row. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Briskly directed by "Sex and the City" veteran David Frankel, the movie is far better than the source. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
While the picture isn't brilliant, it is, at its most entertaining, a kicky, surprisingly astute throwback to bygone Hollywood social comedies. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Setting her (Streep) face into a mask of composure that suggests Darth Vader by way of a Kabuki actor, the most expressive of American actresses shows how power is expressed in the lack of facial and vocal expression. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Prada just feels authentic, from its glossy look to the specific and sometimes curious behavior of the secondary and tertiary characters. To watch it is like being entertained while getting an anthropological crash course. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The devil may wear Prada, but Meryl wears the crown. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Takes place in the world of haute couture. And that pretty much sums up the movie. Otherwise, it would be just another Queen of Mean, boss from hell movie. But, oh, what delicious fun Meryl Streep and her conspirators have with that world. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Streep single-handedly elevates this sitcomy but tolerably entertaining adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's bestselling 2003 roman a clef about a personal assistant's year of chic hell under the thumb of the dragon lady of the fashion world. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
The Devil Wears Prada spins Weisberger's rant into a sharp, surprisingly funny excursion into the catty realm of women's magazines. The movie skips the condescension usually aimed at this world in favor of rapt observation. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Miranda is played by Meryl Streep, an actress who carries nuance in her every pore, and who endows even her lighthearted comic roles with a rich implication of inner life. With her silver hair and pale skin, her whispery diction as perfect as her posture, Ms. Streep's Miranda inspires both terror and a measure of awe. Read full review
70
Washington PostJennifer Frey
Streep makes it work. Streep makes it fun . Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A tour de force for Streep, who gives her character an unexpected measure of depth. Read full review
70
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
Actually one of the better comedies I've seen this year speaks volumes for the quality of the performances and the caliber of the script. Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
A movie that revels in pleasure: the pleasure of fashion, of luxury, of power and ambition. It's also a tremendous pleasure to watch. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
May be accurate around the edges, but at its heart it's a fairy tale. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The bad news in this kinder, gentler, more subtle performance is that, by playing the woman (Streep) as less of a devil, the dynamic that propels the story loses much of its drive and energy, and what's left is a kind of high-class "Gidget" movie. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The comic appeal of The Devil Wears Prada is the cinematic equivalent of a size 2 - wafer-thin and ultimately lacking in meat and substance. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
A lightweight, formulaic piece of fluff, but you wouldn't know that by Meryl Streep's performance. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
A scantily clad revenge memoir. Read full review
60
NewsweekDavid Ansen
When the satire stays focused on Streep or her snooty Brit assistant (Emily Blunt), "Prada" is malicious fun. But the central story about how smart, idealistic Anne Hathaway, as Miranda's drably dressed new assistant, loses her soul in pursuit of success and great shoes is dramatically anorexic. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Frankel has cut, pasted and rejiggered the novel, mostly for the better. As adapted by Aline Brosh McKenna, The Devil Wears Prada is crisper, less self-righteous and mercifully shorter than its intermittently funny but interminable source. Read full review
58
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
They put the material on lifts - and end up tripping into TV dramedy land. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
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...But it's hard to care about what's going on whenever she's offscreen. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverRob Nelson
More "Pretty Woman" than "Working Girl," The Devil Wears Prada really lives to give its angel a high-class makeover. Read full review
50
PremiereAaron Hillis
So stupendously funny at times that she (Streep) nearly salvages the whole thing. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Mistrustful of its audience, it's full of actors -- apart from Streep -- playing broad attitudes rather than characters. Crafted like a high end TV show, it's a sort of video Vogue -- lite, brite and trite.
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
An agreeably shallow comedy. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Meryl Streep is indeed poised and imperious as Miranda, and Anne Hathaway is a great beauty who makes a convincing career girl. I liked Stanley Tucci, too, as Nigel... But I thought the movie should have reversed the roles played by Grenier and Baker. Grenier comes across not like the old boyfriend but like the slick New York writer, and Baker seems the embodiment of Midwestern sincerity. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Probably supposed to be half fashion fantasy, half satire of the fashion world. What a drag that it's not enough of either. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
It's a self-blunting satire, a toothless attack on fashionistas that twists around tortuously and ends up biting (well, gumming) its own tail. Read full review
50
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The best performance comes from Stanley Tucci as the Runway art director. Tucci presents a homosexual man without a trace of cartoon--shrewd, skilled, and weathered without being worn. It is a well-judged and accomplished piece of work. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
If you shut down your brain and simply take in the wardrobe and performances by Streep and Blunt you'll have a swell time, like aimlessly flipping the pages of a fashion magazine. Read full review
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