I remember liking the first film twenty years ago. My wife was a model, and we watched many fashion-related reality shows. I must say, I liked The Devil Wears Prada 2. It’s basically a “where are they now” type movie. The fashion four are all back, along with a few you may have forgotten about, and the relationship of dismissive Miranda and validation-hungry Andy is back. Not as groundbreaking as the first, but a nice bit of nostalgia in the end.
What’s interesting is that Miranda has been taken down a few pegs as the Runway budget is cut to hell after the online move. She can barely afford the big fashion show in Italy—the climactic event. Emily no longer works for Miranda and harbors a bit of sour grapes from how it all ended. Nigel is the loyal employee whose loyalty Miranda never mentions. The film is about Andy coming back and using her networking superpowers to save the day… twice. This time, instead of using a flip phone… It’s a smartphone.
“Put together a group of beloved actors in Hathaway, Streep, Blunt, and Tucci, and they will act their pants off.”
The best thing I can say about The Devil Wears Prada 2 is that I was engaged with the story and never bored. Look, put together a group of beloved actors in Hathaway, Streep, Blunt, and Tucci (how’s that for a law firm name), and they will act their pants off. The film also features many great actors in bit parts, including Kenneth Branagh, Lucy Liu, Lady Gaga, and Rachel Bloom. It’s Fantasy Island on steroids.
The one thing I appreciated the most was how Aline Brosh McKenna’s script addresses a world where Miranda’s comments constantly got her in trouble with human resources, yet never made her the villain. There are quick discussions about the fashion world of the 2000s and the progressive world of women and body positivity today that don’t make you roll your eyes and let you debate who’s right.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 succeeds because David Frankel trusts his cast and Aline Brosh McKenna’s script to handle both nostalgia and modern complications without preaching to the audience. The bar is low on whether it will succeed, but that didn’t stop them from being somewhere close to as good as the first.
"…It's Fantasy Island on steroids."
