From the moment “The Devil Wears Prada 2” starts – with a Dua Lipa needledrop, following Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) as she struts her way through the crowded streets of New York City – I was immediately transported back in time to 2006, watching the iconic opening montage of the original “The Devil Wears Prada” (this one set to the seminal hit, “Suddenly I See”). I cannot lie – I immediately cracked a smile. My first thought was: “We are so back!”
I have never felt more like I’m getting older than when a few years ago, Hollywood began announcing remakes, reboots, and reinterpretations of all the movies I loved as a kid. “Freakier Friday” (pretty good!) came out last year, and a “13 Going on 30” reboot is in the works (blasphemous!). And this year, we have “The Devil Wears Prada 2” (better than expected!). The Hollywood nostalgia machine comes for us all.
There is no question that this sequel lacks the bite of the original. That being said, with the original creative team (director David Frankel and writer Aline Brosh McKenna) back in action, they’ve made a worthy attempt to comment on the complete dystopian woes of the media-sphere in a way that feels genuine. It shouldn’t be too much to ask for a sequel with a point of view past dollar signs, but it is rare enough that when it happens, it should be celebrated. There are missteps here and there, but it’s not hard to overlook those missteps when the returning cast seems to be having such a great time.
We first see Andy as she’s about to win a big award for investigative journalism – and, unfortunately, right before she learns that she and a host of other journalists at her newspapers are being laid off (triggering). That moment in itself is a pretty apt encapsulation of the hellscape of modern journalism: being rewarded for doing excellent work while simultaneously being told that work is not worth the money.
So, Andy finds her way back to Runway magazine. But this version of Runway is struggling to find its place in a media landscape that cares more about, as Nigel (Stanley Tucci) puts it, content you can scroll past on your phone while you pee than it does glossy, gorgeously-made magazines. The old players are all back – Nigel and the devil herself, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep, in a role she really was born to play), are still at Runway. Emily (Emily Blunt) now works in retail at Dior.
As someone who loves “The Devil Wears Prada” and who works in media in the year 2026, I found myself a bit moved at the idea of people trying to find pride in their work in an increasingly hostile environment. This storyline and its hopeful spin are what takes away some of the edge of the original, but at the same time, that hopefulness doesn’t feel unearned. In between films, Andy has lived a lifetime – she’s made a name for herself in journalism, and is no longer that scared girl who reluctantly walked through the doors of Runway. Hathaway’s performance is a little sunnier, a little daffier, and a little more relaxed – she wants to prove herself to Miranda, but she’s not a nobody anymore. She has receipts to back up her successes.
Miranda is a bit of a tougher sell this time around, although Streep slides back into Miranda’s quiet power with ease. She’s such an enigma in the first movie, a cruel mystery whose vulnerability we only see glimpses of. This time around, we’re given more access to Miranda’s inner monologue, to her anxieties and her feelings, as the film struggles a bit to connect those emotional beats. However, it does have fun with the idea of Miranda Priestly running a company in the year 2026 – in one scene, her new assistant Amari (Simone Ashley) repeatedly tries to school her on PR speak and what she can and cannot say during a meeting.
There’s a strangeness to come of the plotlines outside of the general comment on the mediasphere – including a very lackluster romance for Andie, and Justin Theroux playing some combination of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos – and the jokes don’t always land (although, a scene where Miranda essentially gives Andy her blessing to write a book about her will tickle “The Devil Wears Prada” obsessives). But, the big entertainment factor about “The Devil Wears Prada 2” comes from the fact that every returning player gives it 100 percent. There’s something to be said for putting movie stars in chic outfits and letting them cook – and this movie understands that power.
I know, I know – they’re all probably making a ton of money off of this. The least they could do is try. But I’ve seen enough of these things to know that’s not always the case.
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” opens in theaters this weekend.
