Review: "The Devil Wears Prada 2"

Is it possible that 20 years have gone by since The Devil Wears Prada skewered the world of high fashion and conquered the box office back in 2006, earning $326 million worldwide (on a reported budget of $35 - $41 million)?

Time flies, and things change.  We discover that much has changed in the lives of the four main characters over the course of two decades.  Sadly, not all the change has been for the better.

In the opening sequence, we find that Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) has finally become an award-winning journalist (her life-long dream). She’s about to be presented with an award at a banquet, but before she can walk to the stage, she and the colleagues sitting at her table receive a group text informing them that they have all been fired.  A tearful, embittered acceptance speech follows.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 wastes no time plugging into the harsh realities of 2026.

It isn’t long before Andy is surprisingly offered a position back at the fictional Runway Magazine (read Vogue) which is experiencing some nightmarish PR problems that jeopardize the publication and the job of its longstanding, legendary editor in chief, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep).

Things get off to a rocky start when Andy arrives, all smiles, only to find that Miranda seems to have no recollection of their past history.  Andy nonetheless launches an aggressive social media campaign designed to restore Runway to its former glory.

Her biggest stumbling block is her former boss Miranda who is old school and struggling to pretend to be in touch with the current standards of political correctness.  Considering her persona in the original movie installment, it’s a tall order and a very steep climb.

You might expect that her tyrannical, monstrous behavior would continue to be a major part of the storyline and one of the running gags in the sequel.  It was the central theme of The Devil Wears Prada.  Miranda was the witch-of-a-woman we all loved to hate.  Meryl Streep’s portrayal was perfection.

But the evolution of her toxic character is one of the shortcomings of this sequel.  Her professional crisis appears to have crushed her unbreakable spirit.  What is left is a kinder, gentler Miranda struggling to navigate a world that has passed her by, depending on people around her to bail her out. 

The 180-degree spin on her character is reminiscent of what happened with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator character in the first and second installments.  He went from a terrifying, unstoppable killing machine to a likeable, protective guardian angel who would do anything to save the people he was originally sent to destroy.

It was a dramatic plot device for sure, but a total cop out to all the fans who wanted the same character to return when he famously said, “I’ll be back!”  Admittedly, he was back, but he was no longer the scary badass we wanted to see.

Similarly, the watered-down Miranda really weakens the heart of this sequel.  She’s vulnerable and fearful, a shadow of her fierce, former self who sent her staff scurrying like panicked cockroaches, when she stepped off the office elevator each morning.

The new Miranda hangs up her own coat, tries to self-censor her speech, flies coach, and even eats in the building’s cafeteria which she never knew even existed.  It’s a sad fall from grace.

To its credit, the movie successfully reunites many of the major characters.  They include Nigel (Stanley Tucci) Miranda’s loyal, long-suffering artistic genius, and Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt) who has ventured off to become a dangerous competitor with her sights on Miranda’s publishing empire.

It’s a high-stakes, soap opera, struggle for power, set against a backdrop of billionaire wealth, designer fashion and exotic locations.  It is also a visual feast of eye-catching, fashion magazine visuals and slick camerawork.  Celebrity cameos are tossed into the mix, including Lady Gaga, as herself, turning in a called-in-favor of a performance, in a major fashion show sequence filmed in Milan.

Sequels are tough.  This one might not eclipse or equal the original film, but it does its best to be current and relevant in advancing the storyline and characters.  What it fails to do is cash in on Maryl Streep’s show-stopping entrance in a designer Devil Red gown with matching accessories.  In that moment, we’re praying she will pick up where she left off in the previous film, as the brazen, bullying, beautifully evil, Boss from Hell.

Face it.  It’s what fans were really hoping to see, deep down inside.

Despite that, The Devil Wears Prada 2 earned an estimated $77 million its opening weekend, as was predicted.  The Disney-driven promotional campaign, including multiple airings of The Devil Wears Pradaa cross the networks and streaming services over the weekend, as well as behind-the-scenes interviews and customized The Devil Wears Prada 2 Diet Coke commercials, went a long way in making that happen.