Movie Review – The Devil Wears Prada 2

I’ll preface this review by saying that there was a serious missed opportunity to title this film The Devil Still Wears Prada or The Devil Wears Prada Again. Or even The Devil Wears Dior since it is Emily who does a bit of deceiving this go around and that is where she now works. In our sequel filled culture, I miss when filmmakers were more creative with their titling of their movies.

That said, we find that Andy has been a successful journalist this entire time. On the night she wins an award for it, she and her entire newspaper find that they have all been fired. The state of the media – of journalists in particular – in our short attention span society where we are constantly fed clickbait content has killed print media. Miranda has found this to be true over at Runway as well where she is forced to deal with a company featured in their magazine had lied about their employment practices before it went to publication. Enter Andy who is hired as editor of the magazine out of the blue by the owner (Irv) of Runway’s conglomerate of magazines.

Miranda and Nigel are unaware of this hire though and are both resistant to it. Andy forges ahead using Nigel as a sounding board. Her articles are great but make little difference as article material lags behind the Tik Toks and reels of the world. I know this all too well. As someone who still writes blogs instead of recording Youtube videos or posting Tik Toks – I’m not even on that app – it often feels impossible to get folks to read your material because they haven’t the attention span to read. They want short one minute videos filmed on smart phones that require no critical thinking and have ruined their attention spans in the process. It is no wonder why ADHD is at higher levels that its ever been.

Anyway, Andy manages to get an interview with a reclusive designer who NEVER gives interviews (Lucy Liu) and this gets Miranda to start taking a liking to her. When Irv suddenly dies leaving his son in charge of the company, Miranda, Andy, and Nigel realize that their days are numbered. They hatch a plan with Emily who is now working at Christian Dior and is dating one of those millionaires who spend money like they will never run out of it.

In line with the themes with the original film, these characters have to make choices about the kind of people they want to be. Emily, still resenting how she left Runway years before, has every intention of taking over Runway when her boyfriend buys it, leaving Miranda on the outs. Their plan for Runway will essentially dismantle what it is and manufacture it as something completely different. It is Andy and Miranda who band together and find a different way forward which give Nigel the moment he has always wanted. For Miranda to let him take lead after all their years together. For her to acknowledge how much he has done for her and how much she has kept him in the same position for much too long.

This film has higher stakes that the first film. Miranda, Emily, Andy, and Nigel all have more emotional arcs and are given the freedom to do what they want in a changing society. I love that Miranda is in a healthy relationship with her husband (Kenneth Branagh) and that he supports her strength. I love that Andy holds to her true character and decides no to write a tell all about Miranda that would earn her a $350,000 book deal, even when Miranda says she would be okay with it. I love that Andy is still best friends with Lily (Tracie Thoms) after all these years and that she is still a moral compass. I love that Lada Gaga shows up and performs a song and a little drama. I don’t know what the backstory was between her and Miranda, but it shows that Miranda’s stubborn nature can certainly complicate working relationships and that she is willing to put aside resentments if it means a more successful show. And I love that Andy wears her old cerulean blue sweater, sans sleeves, over a button down as the movie ends. An Easter egg for the ages. Or at least for those of us paying attention.

I’m not so in love with the fashion this go around, especially with the tassel jacket Miranda wears and the dress Andy wears to Miranda’s home in the Hamptons. Nigel explicitly tells her not to stain it, and she ends up staining it anyway. And nothing comes of it. Why couldn’t she stain it? Why did Nigel not care after he warned her so ardently? And that tassel jacket is… something. Was this the costume department’s way of saying Miranda had graduated from who she used to be? Who knows. I also could have done without Andy having a real estate love interest pop up in the middle of the movie, but that certainly wasn’t a dealbreaker. Maybe it was meant to show that Andy was making a similar mistake as Miranda with her past marriages when she put her job over her family, but there wasn’t enough to the relationship for it to make a lot of sense in that regard. That said, I am glad that had a happy ending and we didn’t end up with her boyfriend from the first film.

This film breathes new life into characters who are past their coming of age years giving them more to fight for. Miranda has become less controlling and mean. Emily finds a way past her resentments and out of working for a large designer or being with a rich man just so she can have nice things. Andy finds journalistic integrity at the very magazine she started out at, and finds that she and Emily can finally be friends. Nigel finds himself Miranda’s equal. It does all of this in the face of a declining industry that must find a way to engage with younger generations without being left behind.

4 out of 5 stars.