Thinking on Meryl Streep

I have been thinking about Meryl Streep for a number of weeks, ever since I found out that she was going to visiting the Royal Ontario Museum for an interview about her amazing career. I still regret that I did not go, owing to my complete lack of funds. But it has led me to ponder her body of work and there are so many of her films that I have not seen, mostly because I was too young to see them. My childhood consisted of The River Wild and Death Becomes Her (which is all too often undervalued). I have never seen Sophie's Choice, The French Lieutenant's Wife, A Cry in the Dark, or Out of Africa, and they are not the easiest to find in your local video store (especially not mine). This weekend I watched Death Becomes Her for the millionth time, and still found more reasons to love it.

But Meryl Streep is not the real reason for this post. After seeing An Education on Friday and then watching Death Becomes Her I was reminded of my choice for worst film ending ever. It is hard to believe that Meryl Streep can be part of any film that would qualify for worst on any of my lists. Thankfully she is the reason to watch the film and has no part in the ridiculously pathetic ending. So which film am I talking about? The Devil Wears Prada, obviously.

I will not bore you with the details of the film, because if you want to read this I am sure you have seen the film. When Andy (Anne Hathaway) leaves Runway and Miranda Priestly (Meryl Sreep) for a less than glamorous career it is completely unbelievable. After her transformation there is no way in Hell that Andy would ever leave her job knowing how far it will lead her in the future. She had also grown apart from her pathetic boyfriend (Adrien Grenier) and was still too good for Simon Baker. The film tied up all its loose ends in three minutes and tried for a Hollywood ending. If you ever wanted to know how to ruin a movie, there is no better example.

I am not a fan of forced happy endings. If you are going to make a film and you want it to end on a happy note, please have artistic integrity. Have the balls to make a real film and to create real characters that make real choices.