The Devil Wears Prada 2 Gave Us Millennials Exactly What We Wanted

★★★☆☆ | I wanted the references, the fashion montages, the emotional support nostalgia and, thankfully, this movie understood the assignment.

I was so excited for The Devil Wears Prada 2, actually excited doesn’t even cover it. I was BARELY FUNCTIONING as I was waiting for this movie to come out. Felt like a longer wait than Avatar, and that’s saying a lot.

The reason why I loved this movie are the reasons why I usually complain about movies: despite sounding like critics, they are actually intrinsic reasons why it worked.

Because this was a movie for millennials, and we are scarred, man. We need comfort. Repeated patterns. Familiar beats. And will support any movie that will give us that.

Here’s why I liked The Devil Wears Prada 2:

It’s The Same Exact Formula

I don’t think this movie is reheated soup. I think it has been translated to 20 years later seamlessly: the stakes are updated, the characters have grown organically but are deep down still enough the same for us to be able to love them the same; the world is vibrant and in touch with today’s issues.

However, the revamp has been done in the exact same way. So much so that the scenes are the same: the opening scene, the assistants’ dynamics, the corn soup scene in the canteen, the fashion wardrobe moment with Nigel, the paparazzi in Milan, the betrayal twist reveal, Andy’s shock (duh) at that. There is less of Andy running around NY with Dolce & Gabbana’s skirts and scolding hot Starbucks coffee and depressing fights with Nate (boooo Nate you suck!), but apart from that, it’s all the same.

The one big difference is Andy’s attitude: she didn’t care for Runway before, and now she fights to save it.

Not a complain, I needed this. I needed a sequel that wouldn’t reshuffle what we knew, felt and loved about the first one. I wanted a movie that gave me what I craved, and that was the comfort of familiar beats, dialogues and dynamics. And a lot of fashion moments.

There Were No Surprises

What we wanted, simply, happened. In a predictable, soothing way. And I let the comfort of that awareness wash over me in the theatre: I was back to 2006, watching TDWP instead of doing homework, dreaming of a life in Manhattan, wearing stilettos (I don’t wear high heels IRL but in all my female empowering daydreaming I do), working in fashion, single, driven, invited to fancy parties.

Powerful, successful, on top of the world.

The movie made me feel all that, and never once derailed from the dream it promised. At least the soundtrack, alas, was different. But the flavour was not. Actually, come to think of it, if they had added Suddenly I See at any point I wouldn’t even have gotten mad.

Constant References To The First Movie

I love Easter eggs, I love subtle references in movies, if they are not too heavy-handed that is. It’s like a game of Where’s Waldo, and this was one filled with them: jokes, one-liners, even outfits (in the last scene Andy wears a cerulean gilet sweater *wink wink) the whole movie is peppered with references from the first. I will have to watch it again just to catch them all.

The Men Are Pleasantly Useless

This is a woman’s world and I love it. Men in this movie are either brainless investment dudes or the forgettable guy she dates (and why does she do that?!? Paragraph below). Women rule, scheme and decide and Illlllove it.

I just wish the only man in the movie worth mentioning had a moment to shine more brightly: Nigel deserves the world, he is the unsung hero of both movies and Miranda’s recognition of his value by the end is not nearly enough.

---

Although enjoyable, these are the things I would have changed to make it better:

It Needed More Of The Original Grit

The Andy we met twenty years ago was fresh out of uni, idealistic, a tad entitled and determined to prove herself. Here she is confident, an accomplished journalist, with a proven track record of success. I love how she didn’t become cynical and sharpened her idealism without losing her drive. So I was taken aback when she still proved to be… gullible.

When she is played by Emily I rolled my eyes: how could she fall for that? In that scene she reminded me so much of her younger self, when Miranda did the same thing to Nigel and that’s the watershed moment when she leaves the car (and tosses the phones in the fountain ICONIC) because she swears she would never be as cutthroat like Miranda.

And that promise, I guess, she kept, because she fell for it again when Emily does it to Miranda. Not a lot of growth here.

Emily is the real scene-stealer of this movie

Miranda, on the other hand, felt like an aged version of herself. Not physically, for Meryl is perfect and gorgeous and untouchable. But in her spirit, in her gumption. She felt tired and less blunt, a more docile version of the devilish manager she used to be. I didn’t feel her grit coming through, and I disliked that. She was shown too vulnerable this time, and I wished she had stayed more of her ruthless self and shown growth and acceptance through actions, rather than smooth words the Miranda of 20 years ago would have never uttered.

she was a cold beast and I missed her

The Men Are Truly Useless

I don’t understand the point of the man she dates. Is he so bland on purpose? Is that because the message is that it’s fine for a woman to not be in a relationship and focus on her career? Because if that was the message maybe it would have landed better without said man in the picture. And I have nothing against the guy, he is so unproblematic he was written as the anti-Nate. And for that, we applaude him. But why was he needed at all in this story?

This is one of the most successful movies of all time targeting girls but not making it about a realisation through a love story. This is about one’s integrity, dreams and determination. With pretty shoes. So what is this man doing here? Idk.

Andy’s Outfits

Her outfits were so dead it actually hurt my eyes. Was the rainbow short of six colours in her world? Why is she only wearing blue and grey for the first two acts of the movie? Only in Milan she put some sparkle on and we started talking. At one point she wears a grey tartan dress I swear is made out of a picnic blanket. I wanted a proper Nigel glow-up, and I was not satisfied. I was much happier with the new assistant’s looks, Emily’s and Miranda’s.

Some I made the mistake of looking up online for the price tag, if I sell a kidney I might be able to swing it.

Sofi🌻

If you want more reviews, this is the best The Devil Wears Prada 2 review around, by EleGu :

A sequel? Twenty years later? Groundbreaking.

Others from me:

London based Acquisitions TV Exec, I watch movies and I love to write. In this newsletter I tell you what going to movie premieres is like, review the movies I watch and share practical guides on storytelling & scriptwriting. If this sounds good you know what to do :)