Movie Review: The Devil Wears Prada 2

By John Corrado

It’s somehow been twenty years since the release of The Devil Wears Prada in 2006, which netted Meryl Streep one of her many Oscar nominations for her ice queen performance as Miranda Priestly, the Anna Wintour-inspired editor of a New York fashion magazine.

Now we have a sequel, The Devil Wears Prada 2, which sees the original cast members returning to these iconic roles. This is a full-on reunion, with David Frankel also coming back to direct, and Aline Brosh McKenna once again writing the screenplay.

The film obviously has big shoes to fill, with the original having such a lasting impact as a highly quotable modern classic. But The Devil Wears Prada 2 works as a very enjoyable legacy sequel that feels like a natural continuation of the story, as it picks up two decades later.

As this sequel begins, Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is now a serious journalist, simultaneously winning an award while finding out that her entire news team has been laid off by her magazine. Meanwhile, Andy’s former boss from hell Miranda is facing a public relations crisis over at Runway. This leads to Andy being brought back to the fashion magazine, and made the new Features Editor. Miranda is still cold as ice, but doesn’t even remember her former second assistant.

Andy tries to right the ship, and bring a more serious journalistic bent to the fashion magazine, but Miranda doesn’t want to give up control so quickly. Miranda’s other former assistant, Emily (Emily Blunt), is now an executive over at Dior, and holds some leverage over her as one of Runway’s biggest advertisers. Miranda’s flamboyant right hand man Nigel (Stanley Tucci) is once again Andy’s rock at the company, including lending her some outfits on the side.

As these familiar faces appear throughout the film, there is a feeling of revisiting old friends. Like the original, the performances are again a big reason why this sequel works so well, with each of the cast members very comfortably slipping back into their roles. If Miranda has softened ever so slightly over the years, Streep’s commanding screen presence and performance remains a focal point.

Hathaway has aged up Andy, who is now a little more headstrong and mature, while still retaining the girlish charm of her earlier portrayal. Blunt retains her dry, sardonic wit as the scene-stealing Emily, and Tucci is once again an absolute highlight of the cast, bringing some deeper layers to his delightful portrayal of an older and perhaps even wiser Nigel.

If The Devil Wears Prada 2 retains the fun, escapist vibe of the original in how it showcases the fabulous fashion items and locations on display, there is also a more bittersweet undertone to this sequel as it grapples with the end of an era. The story focuses on how the once-mighty print magazine industry is no longer untouchable, and in many ways has become untenable.

It’s glossy and entertaining, yes, but with a deeper message about the importance of journalism and protecting human creativity in a world increasingly run by AI and corporate takeovers. In this way, The Devil Wears Prada 2 uses the passage of time to its advantage, directly addressing how much has changed in the two decade jump since the original. There is even a very funny running gag about Miranda trying to adapt to the times with things she shouldn’t say.

Frankel delivers enough callbacks and references to the original to please fans, alongside a variety of new cameos, and the screenplay features the barbed one-liners that we want and expect. It’s the best case scenario for a legacy sequel arriving twenty years later, with the returning cast giving their all to a film that justifies itself by working as both nostalgic reunion and very satisfying continuation of the original story.