THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2:
A VERY GLAMOROUS FOLLOW-UP!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4
20TH CENTURY STUDIOS
Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, and Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada 2
Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep-Kramer VS Kramer, The Iron Lady, The Post) and Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway-The Dark Knight Rises, Les Misérables (2012), Interstellar) are back in The Devil Wears Prada 2, the much-anticipated sequel to the 2006 comedy smash-hit, The Devil Wears Prada, released nearly 20 years later. I actually really liked the first Devil Wears Prada, though I do not follow the fashion industry at all. I just thought it was a very funny look at the intense world of fashion with incredibly memorable characters and scene-stealing performances by the cast, with Streep as my second favorite movie “Devil” from that year.
Now we have the sequel with Streep, Hathaway, Emily Blunt (Looper, Edge of Tomorrow, A Quiet Place 1 and 2), and Stanley Tucci (Road to Perdition, The Hunger Games franchise, Conclave) reprising their roles and David Frankel (Marley & Me, Hope Springs, Jerry & Marge Go Large) back in the director’s chair. I was curious about this film when it was announced, though I wasn’t really excited for it because while I enjoyed the first Devil Wears Prada, it was a pretty self-contained movie that didn’t warrant a continuation to me.
Well, I’m happy to report that The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a worthy follow-up to the first that progresses the story and evolves the fashion world via its 20-year gap. I guess the first one was a little tighter, but this was still a good sit.
The film is set 20 years after the first and follows Andrea “Andy” Sachs, who has become a respected reporter in New York. But when she and her entire newsroom are abruptly laid off via text and the former Runway magazine, now online fashion brand facing a PR crisis, Andy finds herself back at Runway as a features editor to do damage control unbeknownst to her intense and tyrannical boss, Miranda Priestly.
However, Andy’s not alone as a couple of other familiar faces cross paths with her, including Miranda’s overworking right-hand, Nigel Kipling (Tucci), and her former first assistant, Emily Charlton (Blunt), who is now a senior executive at Dior.
The film also stars Justin Theroux (Mulholland Drive, American Psycho, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) as Emily’s boyfriend Benji Barnes, Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet (1996), Murder on the Orient Express trilogy, Oppenheimer) as Miranda’s new husband Stuart Simmons, Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels 1 and 2, Kill Bill, Rosemead) as Sasha Barnes, B.J. Novak (The Office, Inglourious Basterds, Vengeance) as Jay Ravitz, Patrick Brammall (The Alice, A Moody Christmas, Offspring) as Andy’s love interest Peter, Helen J. Shen in her first film role as Andy’s assistant Jin Chao, Simone Ashley (Sex Education, Bridgerton, The Little Mermaid (2023)) as Miranda’s current first assistant Amari Mari, Tracie Thoms (Death Proof, 9-1-1, Looper) reprising her role as Andy’s best friend Lily, and Caleb Hearon (Jurassic World: Dominion, I Used to Be Funny, Pizza Movie) as Miranda’s current second assistant Charlie.
Overall, The Devil Wears Prada 2 could have been a phoned-in sequel that lazily recycles the exact same film as the first in hopes of giving people more of what they liked in its predecessor. Thankfully, that is not the case with this film, as it continues the story and shows how things have changed over the 20 years between movies.
Just like in real life, a lot has changed since the first film. Runway is now an online fashion company, Miranda can’t be as ruthless as she once was in 2006 at the risk of causing an HR conflict, and Andy’s journalism job is threatened by various takeovers. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a sequel done right because it takes its characters and puts them in new situations and places while still retaining elements that made its predecessor great.
The dynamics between the four leads are still fantastic, with Streep slipping back into Miranda as if she never skipped a beat, Emily Blunt is still very funny and sassy as…well, Emily, and is given more depth this time outside of just being the bitchy ex-co-worker. However, what really surprised me was how invested I was in Anne Hathaway and Stanley Tucci’s characters’ relationship, which started off as just a typical workplace relationship and gradually became a genuine friendship.
It doesn’t just stop at the cast; the movie itself feels like it was filmed in 2006, even right down to the same cinematographer returning, and even though this is a comedy film and not a big spectacle movie, it feels big. Actual sets, filming on location, various lighting effects, and windows with real streets and backdrops and it really makes me miss this kind of filmmaking on ALL projects, it’s a comedy made for the big screen and not made like a crappy streaming movie that somehow got a theatrical release.
The movie is just under 2 hours, and it never felt like things dragged; it’s a highly anticipated sequel to a successful movie made 20 years ago, and the cast and crew wanted to give the characters as much time to shine as possible. For the most part, it works, but I thought some aspects were somewhat underdeveloped. The biggest example being Anne Hathaway’s Andy’s relationship with her new love interest, Patrick Brammall’s Peter, the actors work fine together and have strong chemistry, but it didn’t really impact the plot that much and is nowhere near as interesting as what she’s doing with Streep, Tucci, and/or Blunt.
This is a pretty easy recommendation; if you loved the first Devil Wears Prada, then you’re bound to enjoy this one as well, as it gives more of what people want to see without it ever feeling like a lazy rehash. The cast is great, the costume design is divine, the cinematography is magnificent, and the story is funny and engaging; it’s a welcome return to Runway even with someone like Miranda Priestly leading the way.
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