The Devil Wears Prada 2
- May 1
- 3 min read
Twenty years after the original, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 struts onto the runway dripping big laughs, stunning locations, prime Meryl Streep and plenty of surprises.
As we're dropped back into present day Manhattan, Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) has carved out a two decade career as a journalist. Just as she's winning an award for an expose, her entire team is fired and the publication they work for is shuttered. Print and Magazines are dead (yep!) and that's not good for Miranda Priestly (Streep) either. She's battling HR complaints AND dwindling numbers alongside loyal sidekick Nigel (Stanley Tucci). Streep has never been better, more snarky or lethal, it's a hell of a lot of fun to watch, especially as her assistant Amari (Simone Ashley from "Broadchurch") calls her out every sixty seconds in meetings on words, terms or comments she can't say in today's snowflake workforce.
After a glowing article in Miranda's magazine "Runway" turns out to glorify a company mired in overseas sweatshops, her stock is at an all time low. The owner of the conglomerate of which Runway is but a small piece, Irv Ravitz (Tibor Feldman) and his son played by BJ Novak from "The Office", decide drastic measures are needed. They hire Andy to be the Features Editor of Runway, setting up a lot of twists, turns and laughs. Novak is terrific as a new generation of businessman more concerned with numbers than legacy.
The dynamic between Miranda and Andy is perfectly executed by Steep and Hathaway. Miranda spends the first half of the movie insisting she has no idea who Andy is.
Emily Blunt delivers big laughs as Emily, another former Miranda assistant who now runs design for Dior's new showroom in NYC. Blunt drops one liner after one liner, barbs that land even more sharply with that accent.
Sequels can be hit and miss and they always need to justify their right to exist. The best of them actually build on the characters. I was surprised just how well this one does exactly that.
Loyalty and ambition make strange bedfellows, but it's the partners of our leads that bring new nuance to the leads.
Kenneth Branagh (Dead Again, Murder on the Orient Express) is excellent as Miranda's husband Stuart, her fourth spouse. Watching two pros like Streep and Branagh interact improves any movie around it. Only after the film did I realize how great Streep is in those scenes. Her persona at home with Stuart is wholly another character. Streep makes it look easy.
Patrick Brammall (Evil) plays Peter, the Australian architect behind the new NYC apartment building that Andy is dragged to by her friend Lily, well played by the returning and always reliable Tracie Thoms (Rent, Death Proof). Andy and Peter's meeting delivers laughs, but the path of their relationship provides an interesting subplot here. Always believable.
But come on, fans of the first film are here to see Miranda, Nigel and Andy jet set to Milan and every fashion house in Manhattan.
The settings, especially Lake Como, Milan and The Hamptons are drop dead beautiful and well shot by Florian Ballhaus. Layered with Theodore Shapiro's score and the right selection of songs, the film moves quickly and stylishly through the story.
The back half of the film dives into a lot of corporate intrigue as Billionaire tech boy Benji Barnes enters the picture. Justin Theroux (American Psycho, The Girl on the Train) plays Barnes as an absolute idiot savant, with a heavy lean on the idiot.
Secrets and mysteries and surprise major star appearances abound and I won't divulge any of them here. They made me laugh out loud many times and one for that Milan Fashion Show is a jaw dropper.
Director David Frankel (Band of Brothers) and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna are back from the original, providing a sure hand for these characters in 2026.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 is going to be a huge hit, based on the sold out audience at last night's early showing and early reviews. It's one thing to pack a theater, its another to over deliver on a much anticipated sequel.
Crowd pleasing might be an understatement.
It's a runway packed with laughs that gets an A.
Who needs a Marvel movie to open the summer movie season? Turns out, no one.
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