A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Devil Wears Prada 2”. (2026, 3*, 12A).
It’s been a full 20 years since the original (which I reviewed last week, getting CASTIGATED by my two daughters for only giving in 3.5 stars!). But now the same gang are back, in the unoriginally titled “The Devil Wears Prada 2”, for a somewhat redundant sequel. Did we really need this? No. Will it make fans of the original (including my two daughters) deliriously happy? Certainly!
But whether you enjoy this film or not will depend on what baggage you bring to the film with you. For that reason, I’m giving this one not one; not two; but three different ratings!
Rating for Fans of the Original Movie:
Rating for ‘Devil Wears Prada’ Virgins:
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) has made a name for herself in professional journalism, only for her world to crumble at (literally) the peak of her career. Now made redundant, she is surprised to be contacted by Irv (Tibor Feldman), owner of the publishing company that owns Runway magazine which is currently facing a PR disaster of monumental proportions. Andy is parachuted in as features editor to fix things, much to the dislike of steely editor Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep), still as rude and terrifying as ever.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC website: “Infrequent strong language”.)
Talent:
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Kenneth Branagh, Justin Theroux, Lucy Liu, Tracie Thoms, Tibor Feldman, B.J. Novak, Patrick Brammall, Simone Ashley, Caleb Hearon, Helen J Shen.
Directed by: David Frankel.
Written by: Aline Brosh McKenna. (Based on characters created by Lauren Weisberger.)
Running Time: 1h 59m.
Review:
Positives:
- Streep, Hathaway, Blunt and Tucci are a dream cast and they play their parts perfectly. Streep in particular is magnificent: she won an Oscar nomination for the original, but a repeat for this is probably unlikely.
- Joining the cast are notable performances from Lucy Liu and Kenneth Branagh. Branagh is given very little to do, playing a very similar role to Michael Stuhlbarg’s husband to Julia Roberts’ lead in “After the Hunt“, but here doing it so much better: he has effortless charm. It was fun to also see Tracie Thoms re-joining the cast from the first film as Andy’s friend Lily.
- One of my gripes about the first film was the lack of chemistry between Andy (Hathaway) and her unsupportive boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier). I had no such issue here. Andy hooks up with an Australian property developer Peter (Patrick Brammall) and I would like to see a whole rom-com featuring the pair of them: I thought they made a very cute and believable couple. (As an aside, this is the movie debut of Brammell, who does a great job and as a random bit of trivia is the voice of Uncle Rad in “Bluey”!)
- For a film set in the fashion world, the production needs to be opulent and decadent and this achieves that. The production design is excellent. The film really impresses when we move to the fashion event in Milan, with some great shots of Milan itself and of Lake Como. A montage of Miranda arriving at different events wearing a wide range of different outfits will no doubt impress fashion lovers: surely this film will get a Costumes nomination at the Oscars?
- The film features numerous cameos, including many from the world of fashion (most of who I didn’t know), some from the world of sports and one notable one from the world of music. I won’t spoil that here, but I suspect (assuming the tracks were written for the film) that name might be in the list for the Best Song Oscar nominations at the end of the year.
- There are a lot of Easter Eggs from the original film, which really makes it essential to recap it before you go to see this one.
Negatives:
- The plot gets more ludicrous the more I think about it! The coincidences in it are so bonkers, revealing that the whole story has been concocted just to get the right people in the right place at the right time! Part of the plot revolves around the divorced uber-rich couple – Benji (Justin Theroux) and Sasha (Lucy Liu) (modelled on Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott perhaps?) – with Benji approached about buying Runway and Andy and Miranda desperate to get an interview with Sasha. But THEN, that coincidence aside, we are meant to believe that, JUST BY PURE COINCIDENCE, Emily (Emily Blunt) has managed to secure Benji as her sugar daddy!
- The film really suffers from a slow and laborious start. It really takes a while to pick up its pace.
- The film does not serve ‘Devil Wears Prada’ virgins well. It assumes a strong level of knowledge about the characters and what they did before.
- I found the whole ‘Miranda doesn’t remember the Emilys’ schtick mildly annoying. Were we supposed to believe Miranda was perhaps getting a touch of dementia to add pathos to the story? (No, it was just game-playing and pointless.)
Summary Thoughts:
I saw this in a packed Everyman cinema with a very well-behaved audience of mixed age and gender. And it seemed to be very well received. Everyone laughed at the jokes. Afterwards in the foyer there was that really nice buzz of positive chatter that you get after everyone has had a good time at the cinema. This perhaps helped me to enjoy the film as well: the illustrious Mrs Movie Mann certainly did.
For those who loved the first film, nostalgia will carry this one through to them rating it highly I believe. (My daughter Jenn, of the Movie Bread Club Podcast, was heading for a 3.5 to 4 ‘baguettes’ for it, with her reservation being about those who did not know the Prada-lore as well.)
Taking a contrary view, my ‘Flickering Dreams podcast’ colleague, the Rev Andy Godfrey, described it as “one of the laziest sequels you will ever see…. a poor sequel doesn’t have one original thought in its head”.
So, mixed views!
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMd1at7OwiE.
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!
