The Devil Wears Prada 2 review: A bigger and bolder sequel that captures the magic of the original

This is a thoroughly enjoyable reunion that feels like being reacquainted with old friends.

Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada 2

20th Century Studios

★★★★☆

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is in cinemas from 1 May. Add it to your watchlist

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Belated sequels can be a drag. Freakier Friday, Mary Poppins Returns, Zoolander 2 – you name it, most have failed to capture the magic of an original that arrived sometimes decades before. Twenty years on from its predecessor, The Devil Wears Prada 2 works like a demon to bring us back to the world of Runway magazine, the fictional fashion glossy that has more than a whiff of Vogue about it. The core cast all return, which means Meryl Streep reprises her Oscar-nominated Anna Wintour-alike editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (or "Beastly" as she gets dubbed).

As the sequel begins, Priestly is still at Runway, but the print magazine is tanking; numbers are down, its nearly all gone digital and everything is about clicks. Welcome to the world of journalism in the 21st Century.

Worse still, Miranda foolishly endorses a brand that uses sweat shop labour, causing outrage. This "momentary lapse" is going to be costly – so much so the higher-ups decide to lure back Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), one of Miranda’s former assistants, who left two decades ago to pursue a career in investigative journalism.

Promoted to features editor, Andy is desperate to bring some class back to the editorial content. "Journalism still f**king matters," she wails. It’s a noble sentiment – and one any journalist would naturally agree with – even if Andy exists in a dreamy world where billionaire tech bros buy up media portfolios on a whim.

It’s all very fanciful, but then The Devil Wears Prada – both the 2006 movie and the Lauren Weisberger novel – was always classic Manhattan wish fulfilment. Like Sex and the City – with less sex.

Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci in The Devil Wears Prada 2

Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci in The Devil Wears Prada 2 20th Century Studios

With the wonderful Stanley Tucci also back as Nigel, the dapper stylist at Runway, Andy is also reunited with Emily (Emily Blunt), Miranda’s prissy assistant back in the day. She’s now moved on as an executive at Christian Dior and certainly enjoys lauding it over Miranda, when the fashion giant becomes concerned at the fallout of the sweat shop scandal. It’s a delicious power dynamic switch that could’ve been explored further, although Emily does hoard the script’s best lines ("Don’t carb shame me," she tuts to Andy, when they order lunch).

Newcomers include Kenneth Branagh – underused as Miranda’s second husband, a classical musician named Stuart – and Bridgerton’s Simone Ashley, who slides perfectly into the role of Amari, Miranda’s new minion who is every bit the fashionista snob that Blunt’s Emily is.

There’s also a small-but-key role for Lucy Liu as Sasha, a reclusive designer – one who Andy strives to interview as a way of boosting the lacklustre online engagement for Runway – and Justin Theroux as Sasha’s ex, a tycoon named Benji.

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With a sharp script penned by Aline Brosh McKenna, who also wrote the original movie, TDWP2 does what all good sequels should do, and goes bigger and bolder. With scenes at New York’s couture fundraiser, the Met Gala, and in Milan, director Frankel gives us a sense of the rarefied circles that Miranda and co move in. Costumes by Molly Rogers are also to die for – so good, you can expect to see them trending in nanoseconds after the movie comes out.

Of course there are cameos – some of them gratuitous (Amelia Dimoldenberg even pops up to plug her Chicken Shop Date skits) or just plain baffling (Rory McIlroy anyone?). And, yes, Lady Gaga makes an appearance, alongside providing the film’s vibrant new song, Runway.

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This sort of celeb endorsing of the DWP brand is to be expected, although adds about as little to the story as the love story subplot involving Andy and a building renovator (Patrick Brammall) that she meets. For the most part, though, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable reunion – like being reacquainted with old friends.

Authors

James Mottram

James Mottram is a London-based film critic, journalist, and author.

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