I’m back, baby! After a long break, I have returned, and so has the team at Runway. We were all aware from the get-go that this movie didn’t need to be made–a sequel 20 years later to a story that felt complete? No one needs it. That being said, I still had a pretty good time watching it.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 centers around the disappearance of journalism and old-school print media in the hungry shadow of tech that’s currently devouring our entire world. AI is pushing a lot of industries out of the market, and such human industries like the arts are sadly not an exception. These pressures bring Andy back to Runway to try to save Runway.

Now, was the movie good? It was okay. I thought the themes were pretty interesting to explore, but the film suffers from a bit of a deus ex machina conclusion that feels a bit half-assed. In fact, most of the film’s writing feels like a first draft proposal rather than a finished feature film. It comes across as low effort with its odd plot choices and consistent characterization issues.

Andy’s romance subplot should have 100% been left out; no one cares, clearly not even the writers, and it was a total waste of time. That being said, Kenneth Branagh’s subtle presence as the new Mr. Priestly was a comfort and a delight. Keep him, but lose the other guy entirely.

I heard there was chatter about the characterization of Andy’s assistant and I’m not really the right person to speak on that. However, I did notice that her character felt entirely disposable and only functioned as a plot device. Apart from her one useful contribution, it’s easy to forget her existence entirely.

As for the other characters, many were underdeveloped and one key character felt like they were basically missing from the entire movie as they were behaving so out-of-character. While I can understand what the writers were going for with that choice, I think it wasn’t done well enough and it ended up dragging the film down. [More details in the spoiler section.]

Being a sequel to an extremely well-loved and iconic film, The Devil Wears Prada 2 of course suffers from lame callbacks that no one needs which are distracting and nonsensical. We all know the first movie was great; they don’t need to dangle these references in front of the audience like a carrot on a stick. Bad form.

But, dear reader, you might be wondering, what’s the good stuff, then? It was fun, that’s what! One of my favorite aspects of the first film was the actual work that Andy had to do and learning about the world she found herself in alongside her, so once again watching Andy work hard to get her projects done and seeing the things she has to do for the job day-to-day was super interesting to me.

There was also a lot of beauty and creativity and art in the movie. It was far less stressful than the first and spends a good chunk of time sort of just partying it up in fashionland. There are some really fun sequences and set pieces that I enjoyed and a good amount of pretty stuff. The characters’ clothing didn’t stick out to me much, but I liked the in-universe fashion show. Another detail I really appreciated was the way they cast the actors for the “MET Gala” scene. They were all gorgeous, but I had no clue who any of them were, and that really immersed me in the world. I expected that scene to be full of meaningless cameos of celebrities I’m supposed to care about, and thankfully, I was spared.

Final thoughts: I had a good time. Is The Devil Wears Prada 2 going to end up on my movie shelf next to its predecessor? Decidedly not. But was it worth a trip to the cinema to watch at least once? Absolutely.

Rating: 💬 I have now seen this movie.

Content warnings: none.

[SPOILER SECTION]

There are multiple character issues among every single main character, but the standout is obviously Miranda. The only word I feel is accurate enough to describe her character in this sequel is “castrated.” There are multiple plot points and jokes that are centered around taming Miranda through things like HR complaints and (I’m sorry, I just really have no other words for this) the “woke agenda.” While it makes absolute sense for Miranda to be facing the pressure to adapt and to have her assistant there constantly correcting the things she says, I think it was out of character for her to not be pushing back more or finding ways to still be scathing while remaining PC. I would expect her to understand the nuance of what she can or can’t say and walk that line with cutthroat precision.

Instead she is resigned, washed out, and just sad. It feels like Miranda isn’t even in the movie until the very end. Additionally, some of her character development, particularly around Nigel, is completely unearned and unexplained. Of course, Meryl Streep’s performance is fantastic, but working in that plot and that writing, there is only so much that even she can do. The highlight is Miranda’s conversation with the cartoonish and idiotic Benji Barnes. That’s probably the maximum characterization given to Miranda Priestly, and it feels like an afterthought no more carefully considered than tossing the last bit of your baguette crumbs in the direction of a pigeon on the sidewalk.

Emily’s character is also so inconsistent and fumbled, I don’t even know what to say about it. Our deus ex machina character, Sandra Barnes, is given no clear motivation for her decisions or any three-dimensional characterization. Lucy Liu is so lovely, but she is only being used as a plot device. Sad. The assistants are also all pretty much meaningless, as well. Seriously, the writing was just abysmal. Despite all that, I still liked this movie. And the soundtrack slapped–10/10. [Back to top.]