ReviewThe Devil Wears Prada 2 movie review: iconic fashion comedy gets a slick but muted update
The Devil Wears Prada 2 tackles journalism’s digital shift and changes within the fashion industry since the first film came out in 2006
3.5/5 stars
“Villains are always the most interesting,” remarks Kenneth Branagh’s character in this sequel to The Devil Wears Prada. The villain is – or rather was – Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-chief of fashion magazine Runway, brilliantly played by Meryl Streep in the 2006 movie.
Said to be inspired by Vogue’s Anna Wintour, Streep’s Oscar-nominated turn arguably deserved the prize – such was her pitch-perfect take on a nightmare boss who would regularly toss her coat and expect her assistants to hang it up.
Two decades on, Runway has gone largely digital; nobody reads the print copy any more, and Miranda, due to HR complaints, has to hang up her own coat. Nor can she fat-shame or do anything else that woke culture will not allow.
Now on her fourth marriage, to Branagh’s classical musician, Miranda has been muzzled in this follow-up – one that reunites most of the original cast, as well as director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, who adapted Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 novel for the first film.
Central to the plot once again is Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), the former second assistant who has since built an award-winning career in investigative journalism. However, after her paper makes her redundant, she returns to Runway to take a job as the features editor.