is a novel by Lauren Weisberger, the same who brought us The Devil Wears Prada
. Frankly, this is basically The Devil Wears Prada 2. Except it's not a well-made sequel that stands on it's own two legs like Toy Story 2 or any of the Star Wars sequels... it's more like Bring It On Again or Mean Girls 2... you know, a straight-to-DVD or straight-to-cable version of the first movie but with all new characters played by cheaper actors with lamer jokes. Bette is our main star. She was raised by hippie nut cases in upstate New York, but went to Emory University and met some normal people and then moved to the Big Apple after graduation. She's still pretty liberal and simple, but has eased up a bit. You know, she doesn't know what country her jeans were made in and sometimes wears makeup and has taken a cab or too, despite their carbon footprint. I think somebody like Rachel McAdams would be good here: strong enough to carry a whole film, likable enough that you overlook her obvious personality flaws and pretty enough to look like she isn't wearing any make up most of the time.
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Penelope is Bette's best friend, even though the two were raised in absolute opposite environments. Penelope was raised in New York City by wealthy socialites who think she should quit her job and just be married to the cheating-drug using-alcoholic jerk wad she's dating. Not that she sees anything wrong with him; she's classic blinders-girl and doesn't know that there's no such thing as "work meetings" at 2 AM with strippers. I saw Rashida Jones from the beginning and the image just stuck.
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Philip Weston is a hot, rich New York playboy. He's pretty much a fictionalized, male version of Paris Hilton. He takes a liking to Bette and soon the media think they're dating. He's a coke-snorting, champagne guzzling, underage girl mauling stuck up pretentious arrogant snotrag. But he's really, really pretty, so everybody puts up with it. He's also British, and I think somebody like Matthew Marsden would be good here.
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Avery is Penelope's long term boyfriend. He's a douche bag. I see somebody like Ryan Kwanten.
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Kelly is the super fabulous party planner extraordinaire. She runs the PR company that Bette works for and as such is the epicenter of all things social and fabulous in New York City. She's thin and beautiful and fabulous and shallow and completely pitiless. She doesn't care if you've sacrificed your entire life for this job, she cares that you looked sexy and managed to plug a product while doing it. I think of Elizabeth Hurley.
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Seriously, though, is there a more fabulous looking person? I don't think so.
Sammy is a bouncer at one of the clubs Bette and her work crew frequent. He looks like a typical bouncer, and Bette first treats him with disdain. However, once she gets to know him and finds out a little more about his background, she realizes he's a lot smarter than he looks, and lot more down to earth than the jerks she's been surrounding herself with. I think somebody like Scott Speedman can pull this off: semi meat head appearance, but an ability to be soft and smart, too.
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Isabelle is this uber-rich, bored, snotty lady. She actually pays a young man to accompany her and pretend to be her boy toy, since her husband is too bored by her shopping, manicured life to actually spend any time with her. It's a really small part, and I know this would never, ever happen, but I totally saw Bethenny from the Real Housewives of New York.
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Will is Bette's fabulous gay uncle. I'll admit, I couldn't get Stanley Tucci out of my mind. And I'm sure that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that this character is, in essence the exact same character from another Weisberger novel
just with a different name. No author is that unoriginal so as to rip off her own work like that... |
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Bette's parents are total hippie-dippy progressive left wing nut jobs. They take the green-is-good mantra so far that nobody actually wants to come in their house. Their teenage daughter didn't shower, shopped only in thrift stores and spent all her free times writing letters to political heavyweights trying to change the world. They refuse to celebrate Thanksgiving, and instead host a Harvest Party around their bonfire. They are in the book for a very short amount of time, and would likely be played by no name actors. But the description of them is so strong and so cliche, that I actually couldn't help but picturing:
Alan Richens and Mimi Kennedy, who played essentially the same characters in Dharma and Greg.
You can read my review of this book on Goodreads.com
