After twenty years, a cult classic returned to theaters for a sequel. “The Devil Wears Prada 2” was released in theaters May 1. The original cast returned for their original roles such as Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), Nigel (Stanley Tucci), and Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt).
In this film, Andy has now become an award-winning journalist; however, she and her fellow reporters from the New York Vanguard have all been fired through text message. Andy releases this rage in her speech, while not only discussing being fired, but also about what true journalism is. She becomes a headline, along with being clipped throughout all social media. At this same time, Miranda, Nigel and Amari (Simone Ashley) are attending the spring Runway event. As soon as Miranda arrives, news is spread about Speedfash which Runaway supports, is housing terrible working conditions for their employees. Miranda is created as a meme and is cancelled by influencers. Irv (Tibor Feldman) and Irv’s son Jay (B.J. Novak) hire Andy to be their new features editor at Runway to save this PR crisis.
Throughout the film we see so many iconic references to the original film. The most iconic one has to be the line “a million girls would kill for this job.” Throughout the original film this line was used to congratulate Andy when she started at Runway, this time it was used by the character Charlie (Caleb Hearon)who is Miranda’s second assistant. He uses the line to show he understands how important his job is. Another reference that was seen in the beginning was two belts that looked “so different,” this pays tribute to the iconic cerulean scene that occurs in the original film. There is also a reference of the onion bagel that Andy eats before her interview in the original.
Apart from these iconic references, there were many great characters. A great addition to the team was Amari, who is Miranda’s first assistant. Simone Ashley carried every scene she was in, whether that was with her fashion or iconic lines. One iconic line she said was “who gives up Chanel?” She says this after finding out, Andy gave away all her clothes once she left Runway. One character that was so unnecessary to have was Andy’s love interest Peter (Patrick Brammall). His character was so unnecessary to have; he was only added to be like Nate (Adrian Grenier), who in the original film didn’t understand Andy’s work. Peter was a very forced love interest; the character seems alright at best; however, he was only created to cause a problem that was the exact same one in the original.
Throughout the film, so many iconic faces in the fashion industry made an appearance. The best cameo had to be seeing Donatella Versace. In the scene she is in, Donatella is having lunch with Emily before Andy interrupts to ask for help. In the scene Emily argues with Donatella in Italian. Another great cameo was seeing Lady Gaga making an appearance as herself and also performing at Runway’s fashion show.
With these great cameos, there were also so many iconic outfits in the film. By far Amari and Emily had the best outfit. Andy had some great outfits too; my favorite of hers had to be her first day back at Runway. She’s fashionable, while also keeping that journalist/reporter style. For Amari, my favorite had to be her outfit that is made from different ties, the ties are located more around her waist. The outfit is very office chic. Emily’s best outfit was seeing her first appearance in the film, when the audience finds out she works at Dior. Her style is very gothic/grunge chic; however, it’s more elevated in this film than the original.
The film was great; it was also nice to see some fans dress up for the film. There were some surprises like the writers killing off Irv during this seventy-birthdayparty, which led to his son taking over and wanting to change everything that Runway is known for.
The audience also got to see a different Miranda in this film. Miranda is not like who she was in the original; she’s more vulnerable and less frightening. Andy is still terrified of her and wants her validation more than ever now. This Miranda still provokes fear inside Runway; however, to Jay and his friends she’s just seen as an average person who isn’t taken seriously. In the film, everyone sees her as somewhat iconic but getting too old for the job. She even has to hang up her own coat due to the amount of HR complaints. With Miranda being seen as too old for the job, she starts believing in that as well. Instead of fighting Runway to stay out of Jay’s hands, she instead complies with everything he says. It isn’t until Andy uses Emily’s help to save the day; however, Emily only helps herself. She buys Runway with the help of her boyfriend Benji Barnes (Justin Theroux). So, Miranda must fix this mistake with the help of Andy to take back Runway.
It is understandable why Emily wanted to be editor-in-chief at Runway. She was tired of being looked down by Miranda and being pushed to the side. However, this happened to Nigel many times in both the original and second film, but Nigel waited for his moment to shine. Which the audience sees when he opens up the Runway fashion show with a speech he wrote for Miranda.
The film also did an amazing depiction on everything now being digital instead of physical media. They also kept the theme of journalism dying, which is partially true. Physical media is slowly no longer existing due to digital media dominating, but journalism will never die. Someone has to be out there to tell stories and keep people informed. As Miranda Priestly has said many times “that’s all.”