If you’re going to mess with nostalgia, then you better get it right. For the first 5-10 years after its release, The Devil Wears Prada had a solid reputation. It was rightfully considered one of the better rom-coms of the 2000’s, was appropriately credited as the breakout roles for Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway (non-Princess Diaries division), and reintroduced the brilliance of Meryl Streep to an entirely new generation of filmgoers. In the last 10 years or so, those warm feelings have leveled up to another level of reverence. I don’t know if this is because of social media or the memeification of “classic” movies, but there are certain films that have gotten a big nostalgia boost, and with that comes the potential of an exploitable cash cow. Enter The Devil Wears Prada 2, which comes with the original cast, writer and director all in tow, yet a lot of skepticism that the magic will return 20 years later.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 doesn’t capture all of that magic back, but it gets a lot closer than I expected, and a lot of that can be attributed to the film’s overall approach. It would’ve been very easy to make a movie that was just all callbacks and cameos, and there have been many, many long-awaited sequels that have completely imploded from those nostalgia bombs. There is certainly some of that pandering in this sequel, but director David Frankel and writer Aline Brosh McKenna deserve a little bit of credit and benefit of the doubt, as it seems they waited until they had a real idea of how to continue these character’s stories in a relevant way. This may sound silly, but it’s worth celebrating that they made a real movie with real drama and an actual point of view, which is more than you can say for a lot of “cash-grab” sequels.
The initial set-up to get Andy Sachs (Hathaway) back to Runway is admittedly pretty strained. After stepping away from the abusive domineering of her boss Miranda Priestly (Streep), Andy has carved out a successful career as a journalist. No husband and no kids means she’s married to her job, a job that is taken from her when her entire newsroom is fired via text. In a classically ridiculous rom-com set-up, Andy finds this out when she’s accepting the “Gold Keyboard” award, pouring her heart out about the importance of journalism in an impassioned speech. This speech goes viral and attracts the attention of Irv Ravitz (Tibor Feldman), Miranda’s boss at Runway. They need some positive PR after Miranda finds herself under fire for giving oxygen to a brand that promotes sweatshop labor. Andy is brought in as Runway’s new Features Editor, tasked with saving Miranda and the magazine’s reputation. She works on a series of stories meant to please Runway’s readers and their advertisers, particularly Emily Charlton (Blunt), now a senior executive at Dior.
This series of plot beats is meant to get all of the characters back in the same room, no matter how clunky. Andy returning to the scene of a lot of bad and stressful memories is hand-waved away by her desperation to actually make tangible money. Miranda initially doesn’t remember her, which resets their dynamic in a way that I thought was going to be annoying but ends up paying decent dramatic dividends. Nigel Kipling (Stanley Tucci) does remember Andy, and they’re able to resume their sweet mentor-mentee relationship.
Once the dynamics are reestablished, the film starts to hit a groove, as Miranda pushes and challenges Andy to set them up for success, and Andy tries to meet those challenges. The Devil Wears Prada 2 doesn’t do a “great” job at a lot of things, but it excels the most when it allows its A-List stars to reembody these roles. For the most part, these characters don’t require deep and award-winning performances, but they require movie stars that can take their lack of depth and dimension and inject life and charisma to them. All four stars are terrific in that regard.
Hathaway has really mastered the art of the rom-com lead, and Andy is just an inherently principled, likable lead character under her guidance. Streep’s Miranda performance is much less cruel this time, which is made a part of the text with some clever jokes about the effect of “cancel culture” on Miranda’s management style. Still, there’s plenty of saltiness to be had, and the same can be said for Blunt as Emily, still as judgemental as ever in a genuine position of power. She gets most of the best laugh lines in McKenna’s script.
There’s a collection of new co-stars introduced into the fold, but many of them are afterthoughts. Simone Ashley fares the best as Miranda’s new lead assistant, fashion-forward and appalled that Andy ever had the same job as her. Kenneth Branagh couldn’t be more wasted as Miranda’s new husband, and Patrick Brammall suffers a similar fate as Andy’s Aussie love interest. Big names like Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux and B.J. Novak play small but pivotal roles, yet you’d be forgiven if you forget to remember they were in the film. The litany of cameos leave a bigger impression, some of which flew over my head, others that genuinely shocked me.
The Devil Wears Prada 2’s works as your typical rom-com comfort watch, but as a person who works in the industry, I was appreciative of Frankel and McKenna’s engagement with the shifting changes in journalism. Runway is now a “magazine” in definitive quotes, mostly digital and reliant on online subscribers to survive. The movie doesn’t get totally engulfed by some of the hard truths of the industry, but you feel a bit of desperation to the work that Miranda and Andy are doing, as they never know if their next article or shoot will be their last. Miranda also has the looming question of her age nipping at her heels, a note that Streep plays extremely well.
I’m the wrong person to speak to The Devil Wears Prada 2’s fashionability, but it definitely feels much bigger than the first film. Beginning with the Met Gala and culminating in a lavish Italian getaway, the outfits are quite stunning and stark to even the most untrained eye. The same goes for the various sets, from Andy’s gorgeous Manhattan apartment to the waterside villa owned by Theroux’s character. The film could’ve just coasted on a bigger budget and cashed the millions that will be coming their way, but by actually trying to make a decent follow-up, they may have boosted their bottom line. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is not groundbreaking (much like florals for spring), but it’s a nice enough return to Runway.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 is in theaters this Friday.
