From Prada to Nada [PG]

Two spoiled, rich, sisters, the street smart and career driven Nora, and the fun-loving and fashionable Mary, are left penniless by the sudden death of their father. To add insult to injury, the two are then kicked out of their own house by their newly-discovered brother and his wife, and forced to live with their estranged aunt in East LA, a place where the population is largely Mexican, speak little English, and there are no Prada stores within a hundred miles. 

Basically a modern adaptation with a Latina twist on Jane Austen’s classic romantic comedy Sense and Sensibility, From Prada To Nada is your basic riches to rags story with a few romantic endeavours thrown into the general story of the girls adapting to a life that they are not accustomed to. If I’m honest, it was a nice idea, but a fairly ordinary film that cannot really be expected to deliver that much. 

Two spoiled, rich sisters, the street smart and career-driven Nora, and the fun-loving and fashionable Mary, are left penniless by the sudden death of their father. To add insult to injury, the girls are kicked out of their own house by their newly-discovered brother and his wife, and are forced to live with their estranged aunt in East LA, a place where the population is largely Mexican, speaks little English, and there is no sign of anything Prada for a hundred miles. 

I can give the film some credit for being the only modern adaptation of Sense and Sensibility that I’ve ever seen, after all there is something really interesting about seeing filmmakers adapt and reinvent these timeless tales of romance for the modern audience; look at Bridget Jones’ Diary and Clueless, modern adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Emma But From Prada to Nada just wasn’t as clever or as emotively powerful as either of those. 

In short, the romances were pretty much spontaneously sparked and rather haphazardly shattered and thrown back together again in the fashion of Austen’s original tale, the performances were nothing outstanding, and I think the only reason I kept my eyes on the screen was for Nora’s amazingly nice, but prominent facial features, and Mary’s overly tanned face with those frosted pink lips… I don’t understand some of the fashions that are supposed to be “all the rage” these days. 

Starring Camilla Belle, Alexa Vega, Wilmer Valderrama, Alexis Ayala, April Bowbly, and Nicholas D’Agosto, From Prada to Nada was an interesting take on one of my favourite romances, but ultimately it was nothing special. Filled with glitz, work, drama, comedy, and romance, it’s not exactly a bad movie, just rather ordinary.