She's Your Pal

For reasons I've been able to quite fully understand, Anne Hathaway is not just an acquired taste for some people, but they actively dislike her.  But even more, they dislike her for being "too nice."  Apparently they don't believe her and think she's a big phony or...something.  But as I noted here in "My Anne Hathaway Story," I had reason to cross paths with her briefly, and had friends who dealt with her extensively and for many months (they made the movie Get Smart), and everything I knew about her is that she was an utter joy and there was zero false about her niceness.  Without any cameras around, she was as sweet as could be.

What also came as a shock to some when they saw her in Les Miserables was how incredible a singer she was -- though in my story above, I had recommended her for a TV musical many years before.  (I'd heard her on a talk show discuss how she was operatically trained.  And had subsequently heard her sing.)

Which brings us to this joyous number.  It's from the Kennedy Center Honors two years ago when Meryl Streep received her tribute.  And Anne Hathaway gives just a show-stopping performance, throwing herself into it with outgoing charm and a physicality that, as you'll see, blows away the audience, the other honorees, but most especially Meryl Streep.

If you also pay attention, you'll note that Hathaway is surrounded by her Devil Wears Prada co-stars, Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt.  Also on stage is Kevin Kline -- a hugely talented Broadway performer, who starred as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, so he knows a thing or three about showstopping -- and at the very end, when the audience is cheering, he leans over to Anne Hathaway and whispers something to her.  I don't read lips all that well, but it looks like he says, "Good job."

It is indeed a good job.