It’s hard to believe that it took twenty years to get a sequel to the now-classic THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, but Miranda Priestly is back and shadier than ever in a film that is sure to be catnip for fans of the original. It’s hard to follow-up such an iconic film that continues to permeate the zeitgeist. But I knew once Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt signed on, it was going to be good, and thankfully this film is a worthy follow-up, with humor, intelligence, and more heartfelt moments than you may be expecting. More than anything, all those involved looked like they were having a lot of fun creatively, and that really rubs off on the final product.
Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is now twenty years removed from her job as Miranda Priestly’s (Meryl Streep) assistant at Runway magazine. In these interim years, she has been working her way through the ranks of investigative journalism. But when she and her team are laid off at their newspaper, she is desperate to find a new job. Cut to Miranda, who still rules Runway (now digital only) with an iron fist, even if her Gen-Z/Gen-Alpha employees have caused her to take a little bit of bite out of her bark… for HR reasons.
After Runway gets caught in a scandal, involving a label they covered being exposed for using sweatshops, the brand decides they need to right the ship as soon as possible. So they hire Andy as their new features editor, who immediately gets to work re-ingratiating herself to Miranda (some things never change) and determining Runway’s new voice, with the help of Nigel (Stanley Tucci). Emily (Emily Blunt), on the other hand, is now in a leadership position at Dior. She enjoys wielding her advertising purse strings over Miranda and is shocked to find Andy back where they started, but now in a leadership position. And the hits keep coming against Miranda when a change in leadership rocks her and Runway to their core. This begs the question, will Runway be able to survive? After all, in this environment, publications fail all the time… perhaps even those run by the devil herself.
It is really fun the way screenwriter, Aline Brosh McKenna, brings the characters into the present day. The most hilarious example is Miranda being rocketed into the now more politically correct corporate structure, which doesn’t allow for the abuse she may have been used to. Don’t get me wrong, the environment she builds around her is still terrifying, but she has to choose her insults a little more carefully (and quietly) now if she wants to ensure she doesn’t get in trouble. I also loved the references to the original film, and I bet I will pick on even more after repeat viewings. Some of my favorites were Andy wearing another cerulean sweater, Miranda’s twins in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo, and Emily having a new appreciation for carbs— especially those shared amongst friends.
My main issue with the film is that it does a bit of disservice to Andy’s character arc. The biggest example of this problem is the choice to give Andy another relationship. The character and the movie do not need a romantic storyline—when we find her at this stage in her life, the whole point is that she has found a career on her own. She didn’t adhere to the societal standard of focusing on marriage over her job; she instead found love in the field of journalism. The only thing that put a monkey wrench in her ambition was getting laid off. Not only are Hathaway and Patrick Brammal severely lacking in the chemistry department, but the storyline adds nothing to the overall movie. It could be taken out and nothing would be impacted. It exists only to serve as a complete antithesis to the long-hated boyfriend played by Adrian Grenier in the first film, who everyone views as the real villain of the film for not supporting Andy’s career. If it were up to me, Brammal’s character would’ve been kicked to the curb to allow for more time between Miranda and Lady Gaga.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 gives fans exactly what they’re looking for: sassy quips, Streep being icy in an amazing wig, Hathaway oozing charisma, Blunt hurling snipes, and fashion for days. On top of that, the film has a phenomenal soundtrack curated from Lady Gaga, with a cameo from Mother Monster herself that is going to leave you shaking in your boots. If we’re going off of the Richter Scale, it easily registers at a 10. Like most sequels, the film is admittedly not as good as the original, but that doesn’t take away from it being an entertaining movie on its own and one I can already tell is going to be quoted regularly. That’s all.
My Review: B+
