The first time I watched The devil wears Prada, I related to Andy’s struggles as a twentysomething who didn’t aspire to be a writer but ended up in a job where she was basically bullied for her lack of personal style. It was a film that discussed fashion as art and exposed the flawed standards of femininity. he had something to say. Anyone who has ever tried in their twenties to build a path for themselves – whether you’ve failed or succeeded – can definitely relate. And it is my love for this classic that made me curious about the Amazon Prime Video Movie Upgraded.
The film, directed by Carlson Young, tells the story of twenty-something Ana Santos, played by the brilliant Camila Mendes, a down-on-his-luck intern at an auction gallery living in New York with her sister Vivian (Aimee Carrero) and brother-in-law and trying to figure out how to open her . own gallery and paid off her student debt. Ana, like Andy, feels that her time to make her dreams come true is running out and is juggling several things at once. Meanwhile, Claire Dupont’s boss (Marissa Tomei), also reminiscent of Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly, is intimidating, demanding and a perfectionist who insists everyone show up to work in a perfectly pristine outfit.
“Ana had the potential to be a very relatable character, especially if the script had drawn on Mendes’ Latino heritage and the struggles a Latina worker might face in New York.”
Nicole Froio
When Ana provides a correction of a key item in an auction catalog during a high-pressure event at work, Claire notices. To the dismay of Claire’s assistants, Ana is called on a work trip to London as her boss’s third assistant. At the airport on her way to London, Ana is upgraded to first class, where she meets the handsome and charming aristocrat Will (Archie Renaux), who assumes that Ana is the manager of the auction gallery where she works. Just kidding, Ana doesn’t fix Will’s case, figuring she’ll never speak to him again after the flight.
Instead, Ana begins to build a web of lies to keep seeing Will and avoid telling the truth: that she’s just a broken intern with no power or influence. This is hard to understand given the lack of chemistry between the couple we’re supposed to be rooting for. Maybe Ana wanted to feel like she was on the same level of power as Will, who is an obscenely rich man, so she kept lying to match him. Maybe she wants his approval because she feels like a nobody. Perhaps his attention made her forget the fact that she is a twenty-something intern with no prospects. But this is all speculation. I’m just trying to fill in the gaps of a script that had no heart. In fact, the leads don’t seem to like each other beyond being cast as a couple and reading lines from a script that, for me, just didn’t land at all. There was no tension building, no unstoppable attraction between two bodies, and no romance that an audience wants to root for, just two conventionally hot actresses played as a couple.
More than the romance (or lack thereof), as an art major with two college degrees and no paying job living with her sister, Ana had the potential to be a very relatable character, especially if the script had relied on Mendes’ Latino heritage and the struggles a Latina worker can face in New York. Workplace issues and paying off debt are rich grounds for narrative exploration when it comes to the stories of young Latina women—many of us could probably relate.
But the most painful part of it Upgraded — as usual with streaming movies — is that it has absolutely nothing to say about anything. The film’s themes—working women, art world elitism, a boss who is a perfectionist micromanager, the gulf between Anna and the British aristocracy—are not really explored or exposed. Where The Devil Wears Prada Miranda Priestly’s perfectionism is revealed as a facade for a far-from-perfect, deeply flawed woman that Andy exposes, Claire Dupont’s character fails on multiple fronts, from her wonky wig and weird, fetishistic French accent to with her character’s lack of relevance to the story.
“It often seems like it doesn’t matter if these movies are good or bad – as long as people are streaming them, that’s good enough.”
Nicole Froio
At the time of writing this column, heartless live-streaming movies were a common refrain. I don’t pretend to have any insight into how the production processes at studios and streaming services happen, but it’s as if studio execs invest in the most boring and generic content, with little regard for quality or engagement, just so they can to stream games out there as fast as possible. It’s clear that the companies making these movies want to be just as iconic as the classics we already know and love, but they keep falling short. After the writers’ strike, where streaming services were exposed for eroding job rights, job security and back pay, I can’t help but wonder if these boring movies and TV shows have anything to do with the current business model where writers, actors and directors are being burned by a fast-track low-pay system. It often feels like it doesn’t matter if these movies are good or bad — as long as people are streaming them, that’s good enough.
“I want stories that encourage Latinas to say something, to be attractive, to be good.”
Nicole Froio
I hate writing bad reviews, especially when it involves a talented Latina actress like Mendes, an actress whose identity as Brazilian American could have added so much to the story, and an actress who has the ability and passion to take on characters that stand for something and deliver a message. I want Latina-centric stories to say something, to be attractive, to be good. Upgraded it felt stale, generic and uncreative, and as a Brazilian-Colombian reviewer, that hurts.
Regional diversity: C
There is almost no mention of Ana’s Latina identity. The only reason I’m giving it a C is because I know Mendes tried to make her character Brazilian American by changing her last name to Santos, with an “s” instead of a “z” at the end, and we rarely get to see Brazilian Americans act Brazilian Americans in film and television. Also, it was nice to see a Latina as the main character in the American-goes-to-Europe romance trope.
Language: N/A
There was no code-switching or language switching, which I think is fine, but it would have been nice to hear the character speak Portuguese.
Match: F
There is no racial diversity among Latino characters. In fact, Ana’s ethnic identity is only mentioned in passing, and never again. We don’t actually know what her cultural background is, only that Mendes tried to make her Brazilian American. It doesn’t play a part in her story at all. It feels like a lazy attempt at inclusion.
Stereotypes & Trope: D
While not based on any Latina stereotype, this movie was actually full of other stereotypes—the evil perfectionist boss, the hapless art, the clumsy rom-com female character—but it didn’t subvert any of them.
Was it really good? Hey
Unfortunately I didn’t really like the movie. The script wasn’t good so the actors did their best and there wasn’t much chemistry between the leads.
Do you like what you see? How about something more R29, here?
