The Devil Wears Prada 2 lives up to 20-year wait

Doing a sequel to a beloved movie many years later is a risky affair.

20 years is a long time in any industry, but it’s practically a lifetime in movie terms.

A lot has changed since The Devil Wears Prada was released in 2006; the flip phone is dead, fashion magazines are clinging on for dear life, and movies where people can afford to buy a house are practically science fiction.

The one thing that hasn’t changed? Meryl Streep is still able to pull off a flawless performance without breaking a sweat.

Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci are back for The Devil Wears Prada 2, and to give the brief version of the review, yes, the movie is good.

It’s just shy of the original in terms of greatness, but there is little doubt this sequel will persist in the culture much like the original.

Meryl Streep was nominated for one of her many Oscars for her performance as Miranda Priestly in the 2006 original, and we’d argue that performance has stood the test of time more than the movies nominated for Best Picture that year.

Since 2006, Streep’s portrayal as the fashion editor from hell has become perhaps her most defining role, and readers will be glad to know she picks up from where she left off.

For the men who have glazed over this review because this is a fashion movie for the mná, Streep’s performance is akin to Zinedine Zidane in the 1998 World Cup final; a true master in their prime.

The original film has also become Anne Hathaway’s defining performance; since then, she won her Oscar for Les Mis, became a semi-regular player for Christopher Nolan and is due to have a massive comeback year this year with The Oddysey, Mother Mary, this movie, and a Coleen Hoover adaptation.

Hathaway’s performance in the original was an announcement that she was able to hold her own against a titan like Streep; 20 years later, she is her contemporary.

It would have been easy for The Devil Wears Prada 2 to be an easy sequel where Miranda Priestly is terrorising interns again, but the film shows decent restraint.

Yes, the movie plays the hits you want, but it throws in a couple of decent album tracks too.

People who want snappy dialogue, high-octane fashion and flashy music will leave the film satisfied, but underneath the surface, the film has a lot more brains than people will give it credit for.

No one expected The Devil Wears Prada 2 to be the most honest depiction of the struggles facing the media class in the age of AI and social media.

The opening three minutes of the movie see Anne Hathaway and her team laid off by text, while at an awards ceremony, and the film has a very frank and real discussion about the economic realities of the modern media landscape.

While the film isn’t a scathing Park Chan-Wook depiction of the failings of modern capitalism, no one expected the sequel to Devil Wears Prada to display a level of class consciousness.

Nancy Meyers films, such as Something’s Gotta Give, The Holiday or The Intern, are often cited as favourite movies because they offer people a chance to engage in a world where the only real high stakes are whether someone can afford to get steel instead of wood for their kitchen renovation.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 isn’t flippant about the economic realities of the modern world; indeed, the film may be the first time an AI-obsessed tech bro character has ever been funny (credit to Justin Theroux, in a scene-stealing performance).

In classic sequel fare, the film reflects the sign of the times; Miranda Priestly struggles to police her language to 2026 sensibilities, and the film gets a lot of mileage out of how fashion magazines are now consumed by people on their smartphones instead of in print.

To give the original credit, which was riding the cultural moment of Sex And The City going off the air, it also had brains to spare.

The secret to this sequel’s success is keeping the same writer and director team of Aline Brosh McKenna and David Frankel.

Those two names never get mentioned in the context of why the original was so successful, and we suspect they will be forgotten as this movie becomes a major global hit, so we felt this was as good a chance as any to give them their flowers.

Everyone will talk about how Emily Blunt has mastered her icy, no-nonsense persona and how Stanley Tucci is so effortlessly charming you could watch him read the phonebook, but the writer and director deserve just as much praise as the talented cast.

A lot has been made about a film like this not being released in cinemas anymore and being punted straight to streaming, where it gets forgotten in the soup; films like this are the true lifeblood of the cinema-going experience.

Recent mega-hits like Michael and the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, as we joked in our reviews, are what subsidise cinemas so they can show the likes of Sentimental Value or a Mike Leigh film to Tuesday matinee audiences.

In the middle of the pack are films like The Devil Wears Prada 2, a semi-annual reminder to the film industry that, shocker, women like to see films as well.

To dismiss this film out of hand as a “chick flick” is doing it a disservice, as is calling it a “guilty pleasure”; there is no shame in liking a film that is well-acted and directed.

If liking a movie where Stanley Tucci makes snappy one-liners in a snappy suit is a crime, then we plead guilty on all counts.

In an era of homogenised streaming dross, throwback, populist fare like this tends to stand out from the crowd; after eating well all week, sometimes all people want is some ice cream on a Friday evening after a hard week at work.

A big part of this film’s appeal is the opulence and its depiction of the high life; the film still works if you just disengage your brain and gaze upon the fancy mansions and couture.

The escapist element of the film – wouldn’t it be great to work for a high-flying fashion magazine and fly to Milan to work – is the simplest explanation for why a film like this tends to do so well.

If you leave your brain on, however, you will be rewarded by a surprisingly thoughtful, well-done throwback film that was worth the 20-year wait.