Watching The Devil Wears Prada 2 reminded me of that famous quote: “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” To be fair, most things remind me of this quote, attributed to Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, considering the state of the world, but The Devil Wears Prada 2 was brave enough to comment on a particular aspect of it—the declining state of modern day journalism. The film reintroduces us to Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Anne Hathaway), who has moved on from the fashion world and is now a respected investigative journalist. At an awards gala, she and her entire newsroom find out via text that they’ve been laid off—right before Andy goes on stage to accept an award for her exceptional work. Her emotional speech proclaiming “journalism fucking matters!” goes viral.
Meanwhile, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), still the editor-in-chief of Runway, is facing widespread criticism for approving an article that praised a brand that uses sweatshop labour. Miranda’s boss, Irv Ravitz (Tibor Feldman), and his son, Jay (B.J. Novak), attempt to save face by hiring Andy as the features editor to produce stronger content. It happens so quickly that Miranda and Runway art director Nigel Kipling (Stanley Tucci) are shocked when Andy walks into the office. Miranda, with her iconic cold demeanour, claims to not even remember who Andy is. Still, the trio must head to Dior, one of Runway’s major advertisers, to do damage control following the sweatshop scandal. Their contact at Dior is none other than Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt), who was Miranda’s former first assistant and Andy’s supervisor. Miranda’s current assistants are as young and driven as Andy and Emily were 20 years ago: the assertive and hardworking Amari (Simone Ashley) and the more affable Charlie (Caleb Hearon).
Early in the film, Andy rants about how everything keeps getting the soul sucked out of it so it can be repackaged into something else. It’s a depressing yet honest commentary of our current society. Even Miranda has become uncharacteristically apathetic as she struggles to navigate the modern fashion world, having to embrace online clickbait and cheap short-form videos, as well as switching the magazine to a digital-first publication because nobody reads the print edition anymore. Miranda even has to abide by the new HR rules, which has reduced her harsh comments and tyrannical behaviours—though some still remain. As Andy watches on in shock as Miranda hangs up her own coat, Andy’s new assistant Jin Chao (Helen J. Shen) recalls horror stories of how Miranda apparently used to just throw her coat at people—a callback to Andy’s experience of working with Miranda in the first film. Even Emily, a senior executive at Dior, tells Andy that “luxury retail is the only part of the fashion industry that still makes money.” When Andy wonders who has that kind of money to spend in the first place, Emily responds very seriously with, “Have you heard of Christmas?” The one-liners are as fun and cutting as the original, helped by Blunt’s impeccable comedic delivery and Streep’s effortless slide back into her ruthless and demanding character.
Andy is praised for her Runway articles by everyone but Miranda, who remains unfazed. In order to garner her attention, Andy promises an interview with wealthy philanthropist Sasha Barnes (Lucy Liu), whose reclusive nature means she hasn’t given an interview in three years. It’s also discovered that Sasha’s Silicon Valley billionaire ex-husband Benji Barnes (Justin Theroux) is dating Emily. Theroux delivers a perfectly repulsive performance of a Jeff Bezos/Elon Musk caricature. Soon enough, Runway is struggling to stay afloat and finds itself in major danger of having its soul ripped out and repackaged into something else by tech billionaires whose vision for the future is AI-driven. The cutbacks and threat of losing yet another job push Andy into action, though Miranda listlessly does as she’s told—even when she’s forced into economy class on the way to Milan Fashion Week. Andy wonders what it will take to wake Miranda up as the film explores the idea that finding the right wealthy patron is the only way forward considering how bleak everything is these days.
Thankfully, The Devil Wears Prada 2 returns with the same crew. It’s a joy to watch David Frankel’s camera tracking Andy and Miranda across New York and Milan. Cinematographer Florian Ballhaus also captures many gorgeous establishing shots and the bold set design by Jess Gonchor, who balances colour and the cold white of Miranda’s office. It’s fantastic when a film’s production design is so striking, but disappointing when the depth of field is too shallow—a common digital filmmaking faux pas. Despite the inescapable flatness of digital camerawork and lighting, the film fortunately looks more saturated than the initial first trailers—granted no legacy sequel will ever look as good as its predecessor if it’s not shot on film. One of the best visual treats in The Devil Wears Prada 2, however, is the stunning fashion curated by costume designer Molly Rogers, who dresses the cast in the likes of Balenciaga, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dior, Zimmermann, Dries Van Noten, and more.
It’s endlessly irritating when influencers are shoved into films because of their large social media following. I am here to say that nobody cares and it negatively dates films. Luckily, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is set in the world of fashion which makes the inclusion of celebrity cameos feel more natural—though seeing some faces still bothered me immensely. The best cameo is probably from Donatella Versace, mostly because Emily berates her in perfect Italian. Lady Gaga delivers three original songs and her cameo is a wonderful addition to the film, even if I am tired of seeing such spectacles—she also performs “Shape of a Woman” during Milan Fashion Week. The original music is high-energy, but kinda sucks, particularly Gaga’s “Runway” featuring Doechii. It aims to do for Runway Magazine what “Vogue” by Madonna did for Vogue Magazine—an idea that I admire and think is fun, despite hating the execution. It’s catchy, I’ll give it that. Nevertheless, many will adore these tracks in addition to the rest of the soundtrack, which also features pre-existing songs from the likes of modern pop stars like Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus, Laufey, Olivia Dea, SZA, and Raye.
The main cast deliver excellent performances across the board, each getting to experience some character development, though it’s rather subtle in each case. That said, it feels like they forgot to really do anything with Andy apart from use her as the spokesperson for the film’s overall message. The inclusion of Andy’s friends—some old and some new—don’t add anything, nor does her new love interest, Australian contractor Peter (Patrick Brammall). Not only does it feel unnecessary, but it slows down the pacing any time attention is moved away from what’s going on at Runway. The film does grow a little boring as it struggles to balance all its parts and doesn’t fully explore any dramatic tension, breezing through most obstacles off-screen. The montages of Andy working at Runway and everyone at Milan Fashion Week are exciting—a spark that touches upon the original film. It’s a shame that screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna doesn’t explore these aspects deeper, but it was bold and timely of her to draw attention to the evolving landscape of both fashion and journalism—something that is ultimately hard to ignore when your film is set in this world. Legacy sequels often spend time recycling tired jokes and lazily referencing their predecessors too much for nostalgia bait instead of writing new material, but McKenna’s mostly balances these things effectively by actually having something to say. The Devil Wears Prada 2, then, is arguably one of the better legacy sequels.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 is out in cinemas now.
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