I wasn’t sure if I ever wanted a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada. To me, the original was already so perfect, one of those evergreen films you can return to over-and-over again. Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs served as the perfect foil, played it so well that matched Meryl Streep’s iconic Miranda Priestly, who really could have won an Oscar for that performance.
It was just as enjoyable to watch the banter and barbs flung with precision at perfect timing by Emily Blunt’s Emily and Stanley Tucci’s Nigel. It’s a film I could come back to and the story in itself was so complete that I had no real desire to see more from them because everything that I needed was there.
So coming into Devil Wears Prada 2 came with a lot of resistance. The trailer didn’t tell me anything other than they were going to be delivering the same level of humor while amping up the glitz and glamour. The story finds Andy Sachs returns to Runway after losing her job due to the layoffs of media workers (and other industries) due to the current capitalist wave.
Twenty years have passed, and Miranda doesn’t even remember her. Miranda herself is struggling to keep the brand afloat amidst the changes and challenges in the field of traditional publishing since the Internet and social media has changed everything.
Andy’s return to Runway isn’t Miranda’s choice and she now has to prove her worth all over again. While the story runs almost beat-for-beat with the 2006 original, the dynamic has shifted quite a bit with Andy more confident and knowledgeable about the world.
The performances are still enjoyable with Meryl Streep given significantly more to do as the film has her on equal screen time and agency as a character than she was in the first film. This is as much her movie as it is Andy’s. They’ve humanized her, the eponymous “Devil” of the film’s title, now left scrambling to keep her budget and her brand alive, and hoping for a promotion for “Head of Global Content” in the publishing company, a position she has spent many years forging.
However, this added storyline and humanizing of her destroys all of the character’s mystery – which some people enjoyed, though I felt lessens her impact on the film – and without that signature coldness, the film feels like it lost some of its signature bite. By grounding Miranda, I felt more inclined to look at the things that the film wants to say.
And while it does mention the changes in the publishing industry – in terms of its business models and being run by billionaires who only care about making a profit and don’t care really about creating something valuable and meaningful outside of economics – it never really gets to go deep and hard into these issues. Maybe it’s not what the film is trying to do but the whole narrative is set on trying to save Runway with a Jeff Bezos-type billionaire character, Benji Barnes (played by Justin Theroux) playing a crucial role in its future, but I felt the film took for granted in showing us what was worth saving in the first place.
The film still regales us with gorgeous outfits and great styling. It features multiple cameos by real superstars and legends of the fashion world. But in this day and age of a possible global recession and a reevaluation of the true cost of luxury, I end up questioning what the point of all of it is.
In the original film, that amazing monologue about “cerulean” was an important narrative beat to show Miranda’s knowledge in the world of fashion and a turning point in Andy’s discovery of what it is she was truly entering but it was also necessary because it made us realise how high fashion is connected to everything – especially back in 2006. As Andy began dressing the part, looking great, she started to attract good things coming to her. The Devil Wears Prada does not have that same moment – to show us how important and necessary high fashion is to the world today – and thus feels like the film sort of stumbles in what it is trying to do.
Yes, we want the characters to succeed because Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, and Stanley Tucci are amazing and their performances truly grab at you. Emily Blunt is also great, but her character now runs adjacent to Runway. But there are so many plot points and narrative twists keeping the story moving, yet it never really stops and gives us a moment to rationalize what high fashion means in 2026. It’s all gorgeous to look at, but who can afford a three thousand dollar handbag in today’s economy? The film never showed me why that matters.
Director David Frankel does a good job at keeping the pace, keeping the plot moving without ever feeling boring, and allowing his actors to shine. We got gorgeous cinematic moments and a lot of good humor reminiscent of the original but I don’t see the same heart that was there that got me to fall in love with the first movie.
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Miranda doesn’t like to be kept waiting. Witness the long-awaited return of Meryl Streep and the original cast in the cinematic event of the season. Check The Devil Wears Prada 2 showtimes here.
