Review: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2

 by Rob DiCristino

Take a stand for journalistic integrity. But make it fashion.

Mine is a house of virtue. A house of grace. A house of wisdom. In my house, we respect the great moments in 21st century American cinema: We respect the Ricardo Rincón trade scene in Moneyball. We respect the gas station “smile” scene in Magic Mike XXL. Most of all, we respect the cerulean sweater scene in The Devil Wears Prada. For the uninitiated — you poor bastards — it’s the scene where Runway editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) schools her self-important intern (Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs) on the cultural economics behind her chunky cerulean sweater. Andy’s a wanna-be journalist who fancies herself above the fashion industry, above all their frivolous preoccupation with haute couture. But as Miranda illustrates, Andy is mistaking ignorance for independence: “You think that you’ve made a choice…when, in fact, you’re wearing a sweater chosen for you by the people in this room.” Real, human people are devoting their time and talent to these creative endeavors, which makes them more valuable than Andy can possibly understand.

Believe it or not, it’s that same devotion to creativity that drives The Devil Wears Prada 2, the rare legacy sequel that’s more interested in evolution than it is in nostalgia. Again directed and written by David Frankel and Aline Brosh McKenna (respectively), Devil 2 begins twenty years after Andy’s departure from Runway. Now a veteran New York journalist, Andy is blindsided when her celebrated paper is suddenly shuttered in a brutal corporate write-down. Luckily for Andy, her old nemesis Miranda is in the midst of a PR disaster that leaves Runway in need of a reputational overhaul. Publisher Irv Ravitz (Tibor Feldman), impressed by Andy’s stand against the conglomeration of media, recruits her as the new features editor. But as Andy struggles to balance substance and sensation — Runway is now online, where clicks drive revenue — she’ll battle a familiar crop of twenty-something interns (Simone Ashley), industry moguls (including Emily Blunt’s Emily, now a senior executive at Dior), and of course, the impossible, imperious Miranda Priestly.

Brimming with all the high-key style and energy of the 2006 original, Devil 2 sets the indulgent grandeur of the fashion business against a contracting publishing industry struggling to keep itself afloat. It’s 2026, after all: Magazines are dead, algorithms are everything, and for all her cutthroat bravado, Miranda recognizes that she’s little more than a pawn in the larger machinations of recalcitrant CEOs like Irv — whose son, Jay (B. J. Novak) is waiting in the wings — and Benji Barnes (Justin Theroux), a gauche tech billionaire who’s recently divorced (from Lucy Liu’s philanthropist Sasha) and currently dating Emily. Even as Andy’s editorials bring Runway some new intellectual heft, Miranda and her tireless right hand, Nigel (Stanley Tucci), are drowning in cutbacks, compromises, and updated HR regulations that protect Miranda’s underlings from the worst of her wrath (“Apparently, she used to just throw her coat at people,” says one horrified assistant). The future is here. It’s apps. It’s AI. And there’s very little room left for Runway.

It all sounds rather serious, but Frankel and McKenna take care to keep Devil 2 airy and upbeat, foregrounding the familiar characters and relationships that make the original film so warm and rewatchable: Andy’s now more a peer to Miranda than a protégé, but that doesn’t make her any more confident in the iron lady’s presence. Nigel’s still the heart and soul of Runway, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to step into the spotlight as its face. Emily is still a status-obsessed striver, but that doesn’t give her the vision necessary to be an icon. Most of all, the fashion industry is still an unforgiving cesspool of double-crosses and backstabs, and Andy and Miranda are still vulnerable, imperfect human beings who sometimes put their own self-interest before the needs of those around them. Both still struggle with relationships — Miranda with musician Stuart (Kenneth Branagh), and Andy with real estate developer Peter (Patrick Brammell) — and contemplate the toll that work takes on their lives (“People should know that there’s a cost,” Miranda admits to Andy).

Dramatic intricacies aside, most audiences will be excited enough just to return to the Devil Wears Prada universe, and they should be. The music is fun. The fits are spectacular. Hathaway, Tucci, and Blunt bring all the predictable charm, while Streep adds new layers of humanity to perhaps her most unexpected Oscar-nominated role. That humanity is the key, really, the extra element that elevates Devil 2 beyond the soulless victory lap that so many legacy sequels seem content enough to be. Like cinema itself, Runway is a monolith of old media, a hallowed, austere institution that thrives on the kind of creativity that so-called visionaries like Benji Barnes — who, by the way, operates on a “hydro deficit” and thinks humans will soon be “post-neck” — would replace with AI chatbots if given half a chance. But, as Andy learned all those years ago, genuine human imagination is so crucial to the lifeblood of our society that it’s often invisible to the eye. We’re all together on a continuum, even Andy’s trusty — though admittedly hideous — cerulean sweater.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 hits U.S. theaters today, Friday, May 1st.