Review of The Devil Wears Prada 2, directed by David Frankel

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

I recently started an 8-5 job and have been trying to reclaim my sanity and hobbies by finding fun things to do on the weekends and after work, and one of my saving graces truly has been my AMC A List subscription. I’ve always had one on and off throughout graduate school, and I recently reclaimed my subscription after a brief stint of thinking I was going to move to India (long story).

Sometimes the movies I really want to see aren’t included on AMC A List, which is sad, but I accept the reality of the situation. I get a ton of use out of this subscription despite that. On a slightly different note though, I used to work professionally as a film critic, which is very much a dying career, and when I would go to the film festivals I watched everything that really excited me.

A List is also an opportunity for me to go outside of my comfort zone. Recently, at the time of typing this, I’ve seen a handful of movies I don’t think I would have ever seen if I had to actually pay for them. I see so many movies throughout different states on A List that I basically make money off of AMC, rather than spending money. I have an entire spreadsheet for it.

I’d been waiting for The Devil Wears Prada 2 to come out ever since it was announced, and when my sister and I got the chance, we ventured to an AMC theatre in the area to catch a screening. It was packed, which wasn’t entirely unexpected considering the popularity of the first movie.

Let’s get into the review, shall we?

After being laid off from her journalist job, Andy finds herself back at Runway after twenty years and ready to make an impact.

The movie starts 20 years after the events of the first movie, so it takes place in 2026, and Andy, a successful journalist who’s traveled the world in search of good stories, finds her team and she laid off due to restructuring in the middle of an award ceremony.

That same day, Miranda Priestly comes under fire because Runway, the magazine she runs, ran an article about a brand that utilizes sweatshop labor. Andy’s speech about journalism still mattering at the award ceremony is sent to Irv Ravitz, the owner of the parent company, and he hires Andy to be the features editor of the magazine. Her friend offers to give her a six figure book deal if she writes a tell-all about Miranda, which she considers.

He doesn’t tell Miranda though, and when Andy rolls up to work the next day Miranda is rightfully angered at what’s happened. Miranda also acts like she has no idea who Andy is, then drags Nigel and her to a meeting with an angry advertiser: Dior. Turns out Andy’s former co-worker, Emily, works there now and wants to take advantage of the situation to get Dior more ad space.

Runway has been publishing a lot of clickbait and sloppy material, and it’s Andy’s job to now turn that around. One of the interviews she does is with Emily about the new Dior flagship, which leads to an argument about how high fashion is increasingly becoming unaffordable. Andy’s articles are all good, but lacking the metrics she needs, forcing her to land an interview with Sasha Barnes.

At the same time, while she tours a luxury apartment, she falls for a handsome Australian man who happened to design it. There’s some friction between the two later on in the movie, but we do love a happy moment for Andy in terms of the romance department.

Back to Sasha: she is the ex-wife of a Silicon Valley billionaire and now an owner of a large portion of his money, and she happens to like both Miranda and Andy. She gives them a scoop about her engagement, leading to massive success for Runway. Irv then sets Miranda up to be the next head of content across the entire parent company, but at his 75th birthday he has a heart attack and leaves the company to his son Jay.

Jay ends up hiring McKinsey consultants to figure out how to fix the money situation, and everyone is shocked when Miranda just puts up with his suggestions to cut everything back, including Andy and Nigel’s departments.

Andy is very conflicted about what’s happening and insults her new beau, leading him to walk out on her. She flies out with the crew to Milan Fashion Week, where Nigel throws a gala runway event. Andy conspires with Emily, who is now dating the Silicon Valley billionaire, to save Runway, leading to the billionaire proposing to Jay that he will buy it.

But when they reveal the plan to Miranda, she throws it in their face because she knows Emily wants to take over Runway. Andy is horrified and doesn’t believe it at first, but Emily confesses under pressure. Turns out Miranda kicked her out of Runway due to a lack of vision creatively. The dinner they planned kicks off, and Miranda is horrified after she talks to Benji and he reveals his vision for fashion is all AI.

The next morning, Miranda shows up to Andy’s door and tells her to find a buyer. She calls around as Miranda goes to shows, and right before their own gala starts, Andy gets Sasha to agree to buying all of Elias-Clarke. Miranda lets Nigel give the speech for the gala so she can go to Sasha and finish the deal, getting her promotion at last.

Miranda also tells Andy she knows about the book deal and tells her to go through with it. Andy makes up with her Australian beau and then Emily, who tells her all those years ago she wanted to be friends with Andy. Nigel also tells Andy that he was the one who got her hired back at Runway, and the film ends with them working together to keep Runway alive.

Overall Thoughts

While this wasn’t as good as the first movie, this follow-up hits pretty well. I think it’s hard to beat the original in this case, but I liked seeing these characters twenty years later and with a new set of characters as well. I adored Simone Ashley’s outfits throughout the course of the film, and squealed when I saw Helen J. Shen in this movie.

This movie also brought a round of nostalgia for me. I saw the original many years ago, and now I’m 25. I went to fashion school in New York City for my college years (FIT), and I remember the whirlwind of fashion week and touring all of the showrooms as a part of my coursework. This movie really does bring to life that world—and so did its predecessor.

It’s not the best movie in the world, but it hits as a movie. The dialogue works, the storyline is predictable but well executed, and there’s plenty of eye candy in terms of the actual outfits we see on the screen.

All in all—go see this one if you have the chance! I would recommend it.

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