The Devil Wears Prada 2

In a more risk-averse post-pandemic Hollywood climate, decades-long gaps between movie sequels are more common. This is especially true for films under the Disney umbrella, with The Devil Wears Prada 2 (distributed by 20th Century Studios) strutting down the runway 20 years after the original The Devil Wears Prada from 2006. Despite the passage of time between productions affecting both the returning cast and the world that their characters inhabit, this is one case where the using the same passionate crew results in a follow-up that manages to stand with the original as a natural next step rather than fall painfully short.

Twenty years after leaving Runway, Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Anne Hathaway) has become a respected journalist, but her entire team, including herself, is laid off by text during an awards gala. Meanwhile, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) is facing blowback for failing to vet a puff piece for a fashion company that uses sweatshop labor. As Irv Ravitz (Tibor Feldman), the owner of Runway’s parent company, struggles with how to right the ship, he is alerted to Andy’s speech from the awards gala, which has gone viral. Since their needs are more or less aligned, Irv hires Andy as the new features editor for Runway without telling Miranda. Now Andy must earn Miranda’s respect again while also facing an unexpected new threat.

Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) returns to Runway as the Features Editor.

What’s striking is how the story acknowledges the passage of time and its effect on the setting. Within 20 years, Andy has come a long way and even made new friends, which is nice to see and shows that her efforts in the original really paid off. The ever-shifting trends and developments of the real world also have a clear effect on fashion magazines like Runway, which now have much thinner physical copies (even the much-anticipated September issue) and mostly transitioned to online articles, spreads and social media posts that people will likely just scroll past. A faster-paced world also means less time and budget for what would normally be extravagant photo shoots, shrinking from four weeks to maybe two days at best. On top of that, a post-#MeToo climate means that Miranda’s workplace abuse is no longer tolerated and she not only can’t throw her coat and bag on her assistant’s desk anymore, but her first assistant nudges her during meetings when she saying something inappropriate. As a real sign of the times, AI is not only acknowledged, but its negative effects are implied in a pivotal scene.

Time has also made all of the returning characters feel more mature than they did before, but they still feel very in-character, which has a surprising impact on the plot at times, and the chemistry is still there thanks to some incredible acting. Stanley Tucci did sound differently than he did before while reprising his role as Nigel, but considering he had beaten tonsil cancer, he still had a great performance. At the same time, the core story structure feels similar to the original without coming off as a retread, instead allowing space for new, well-paced developments and well-executed twists that display some previously unseen nuance in the characters, all underscored by a great soundtrack. There are some callbacks to the original as well, but they feel natural and don’t distract from the story (at times, they even enhance it). Fortunately, the ending also feels earned and leaves the film off on a good high note.

The returning actors all put on great performances.
L-R: Andy Sachs, Miranda Pristly (Meryl Streep), Nigel Kipling (Stanley Tucci).

As expected from a film about fashion, the clothing looks great and the actors pull them off well. Naturally, the fashion represented here is a bit different from the original film, which helps with capturing how tastes change in that industry. There’s also plenty of great cinematography, especially during a trip to Italy that captures the country’s beauty quite well. Notably, a glimpse of a social media feed shows an AI-generated meme mocking Miranda during her scandal, but the image was impressively hand-drawn specifically for use in the film. This knowledge of that particular image not only shows the strength of human artists, but fits in with the focus on the human element in the creation of fashion that influences what everyone wears in some way or another (even if you think your choices are outside of it).

If you enjoyed The Devil Wears Prada, there’s no doubt that you’ll love The Devil Wears Prada 2. Some things truly don’t go out of style and this is one of them.