The Devil Wears Prada 2

Synopsis:  Journalist returns to the fashion magazine she began her career at; and the same demanding boss

The four fashionistas of The Devil Wears Prada are back in The Devil Wears Prada 2. Meryl Streep is frosty Miranda Priestly, Emily Blunt is Emily, newly employed by Dior, Stanley Tucci as wry Nigel, Miranda’s right-hand man and Anne Hathaway as the once and future fashionista, Andy Sachs.

DWP2 puts fashion front and center, as expected, but also tackles the fall of print media. 2006’s DWP introduced us to recent college graduate, Andy Sachs. Andy wants to work as a journalist at a newspaper or literary magazine. She couldn’t care less about fashion, but interviewed for and accepted a job at Runway, a Vogue-ish magazine. She’ll be second assistant to the demanding editor-in-chief, Miranda Priestly. Andy tells friends and family that her new job will be a good steppingstone to the job she really wants. At the end of the movie, Andy turns her back on a career in fashion and gets a job at a small but serious paper. Present day….

We see Andy sitting with colleagues at a journalism awards ceremony. She’s chatting with a seatmate, a normcore middle aged guy wearing a Yankees cap, an anti-fashion signal for sure. Phones at their table start buzzing… Yikes…their paper is shutting down. They’ve all just become unemployed. Ironically, Andy is announced as a recipient of an award. Shocked, she makes her way to the podium and delivers a fiery manifesto about the importance of journalism.

In no time the speech goes viral, attracting the attention of Irv Ravitz, Runway’s chair, and his son Jay (BJ Novak- always Ryan from The Office to me). They hire Andy as the new features editor, partly to deflect from some blowback to a sweatshoppy brand the magazine had promoted.

Andy shows up at Runway’s offices, bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to work. Miranda is rude to her –shocking! Miranda doesn’t even remember Andy from her stint working there, but she’s aggrieved that her boss hired someone without her input. So yeah, Miranda is hostile as ever. Nigel acknowledges Andy with a sarcastic remark. But we figure he’ll quickly revert to his low-key chumminess with Andy, trading gossip at the cafeteria.

Andy doesn’t seem any different than she did twenty years ago and I don’t just mean from the cosmetic tweaks. She beams broad please-like-me smiles at Miranda and, as the story progresses, she offers unwarranted personal sympathy and support for mean girl-lady Miranda.

Okay, so I can see why Andy is eager to impress her boss, as her job depends on it. But she is, once again, trying to make a personal connection with a person for whom everything is transactional. Miranda has great fashion sense and a powerful career, but she is a cold human being. And a snob. But this is the fashion world, after all.

Maybe Andy has mommy issues? Yep, it’s a thing, although daddy issues get the most press. Observing Andy’s behavior, it makes sense. The hopeful look in her eyes, the strained smile. Maybe mommy will like me if I just try harder. If I remember correctly, in DWP, Andy’s dad took the time to make dinner reservations for the two of them to catch up. Where was mom? Too busy withholding her love? Hmm, maybe the mom doesn’t consider Andy’s new job as an assistant something to celebrate. I can imagine Andy as a child, logging long hours studying. Straight A’s, mom!  Not good enough. And when Andy went to Northwestern for college? Mother probably wanted her to go to an Ivy.

Miranda first rejected Andy twenty years ago when she lamented hiring the ‘smart, fat girl.’ Well, it’s obvious that Miranda didn’t consider Andy smart. But was she fat? Only according to fashion. All of this hostility is catnip to Andy. If Andy can’t win over mother, maybe she can win over proxy mother, Miranda.

In DWP2, Andy hits the ground running. She churns out articles with a conscience for online Runway. Miranda is unimpressed. In fact, she tears her a new orifice when Andy dares to mention her content at a staff meeting. The other underlings cower, as Miranda spits out—in an elegant fashion, of course – that her articles have no traction.

Andy learns that Miranda wants to land an interview with Sasha Barnes (Lucy Liu) who recently divorced billionaire Benjamin Barnes (Justin Theroux), an amoral nerd. Sasha, in contrast to her ex, wants to do good with her largesse. Think Jeff Bezos and his ex, MacKenzie Scott. Andy is determined to nail the interview.

Wake up, Andy! No interview will forward your non-relationship with your boss. Remember how she didn’t even thank you for getting copies of the as-yet unpublished Harry Potter book for her young twin daughters last time you worked for her?

And what of Miranda’s other minions? They are focused on meeting Miranda’s high expectations, but don’t delude themselves that their regal boss has even a drop of the milk of human kindness. The new Emily/ first assistant is Amari (Simone Ashley) – adding some diversity to the cast/office. Amari is just as high strung and snobbish as the 2006 Emily, but she can’t insult Andy, seeing as Andy outranks her.

In meetings, Amari is quick to help Miranda steer away from outdated remarks. She gently redirects Miranda when she gets confused and huffy about models with diverse body shapes. Miranda acknowledges ‘body negativity… body positivity’ as part of today’s Runway.

Andy’s old position as the New Emily aka second assistant, is occupied by Charlie (Caleb Hearon) who quivers at his desk, but manages to maintain a friendly mien. He asks Amari if he can leave his desk to go pee, and she hisses that he should’ve thought twice about his fluid intake. This seems like a case for HR.

Andy has her own assistant now, Jin (Helen J.Shen), an Asian American stereotype. She’s quick to recite her Ivy League credentials and superlative achievements. I would like to have seen this zoomer in some Ella Emhoff fashion. And, for verisimilitude, rocking the Gen Z stare.

Regarding love interests… Emily is dating newly divorced Benji Barnes and angling for all the swag she can get. Miranda is now married to a violin virtuoso, Stuart Simmons. Kenneth Branagh looks dashing as Miranda’s new man. Strangely, he is the opposite of Miranda in his manner; egalitarian and unhurried. Could she possibly be un-Miranda-ish with him? Nope, not buying it. Maybe he has mommy issues!

If you’ve followed the buzz around DWP2, then you probably know that Adrian Grenier, who played Andy’s boyfriend, Nathan, was publicly bummed that his character wasn’t coming back. I get it, like, maybe he could do a cameo as a chef at a Runway event. But, having to choose which secondary characters return…Tracie Thomas as Andy’s friend, Lily fits into the new story better. At least it gives someone for Andy to ponder her life choices with. True to movie tropes, the best friend has no needs of her own, just an overarching desire to tell the protagonist how great she is.

Andy’s love interest now is a realtor, Peter (Patrick Brammall) who is so anodyne that he barely registers. He’s immediately smitten with Andy and he’s available whenever she is. When she denigrates his profession, he understands that she’s in a grouchy mood and is fine with it. Okay, her 2006 boyfriend was unsympathetic to her need to put in a lot of hours at work, so this is an improvement, but 2026 love interest is a man with no needs. He lives to accommodate the woman he’s just started dating. This is NYC, there are always other people to date. In any event, romances aren’t what DWP2 is about.

Things heat up when cost-cutting comes to Runway. The crew will be flying to fashion week in Milan. Flying coach. Yup, even Miranda. IRL, staffers at Condé Nast /Vogue  do not fly coach. And if anyone suggested to Vogue editorial director Anna Wintor that she fly coach, she’d probably eviscerate them. Literally.

When Miranda, Nigel, Andy and Dior’s Emily arrive in Milan, expect fashion shows with skinny models  (high fashion’s nod to body positivity lasted about five minutes) and soirees with plenty of cameos: Donatella Versace (still remaking her face), Marc Jacobs, Jon Batiste, Heidi Klum, etcetera.

I was glad that Lady Gaga made herself available. She sings in an outlandish costume (natch) during a fashion presentation. Too bad the tune doesn’t hold a candle to her songwriting for A Star is Born.  That’s fine, even Mother Monster slumming is galvanizing entertainment.

Andy is dressed to impress in Italy, thanks to Nigel gifting her his skills as a stylist. Maybe Miranda will like Andy for her fashion sense. Miranda herself is not infallible fashion-wise. Her jacket covered with tassles looks like kids got hold of it for a crafts project.

It’s not all haute couture in Milan. Watch out for characters with hidden agendas and who will walk over anyone who gets in their way. Walking over them in their Guccis or Louis Vuittons, no doubt.

And, of course, Andy involves herself in everybody’s business, all in an effort to please proxy mommy Miranda. This makes for some fun drama for us, but really, I think I’d have to advise Andy to get into some serious therapy. she needs to inoculate herself from glomming onto various older women who are emotionally unavailable and disapproving.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I must have my daily dose of Stanley Tucci in eps where he treks through Italy and vids where he makes mixed drinks. He has such impeccable taste and he seems so accepting. If I ever meet Tucch, I’ll tell him about all the citrus drinks I had in Sicily and my fave pizzerias in the city. He’d like me, don’t you think?

Movie Loon’s Movie Review Shortcut:

Grade:  B +

Cut to the Chase: Entertaining, a good match with the OG. Along with the fizzy fashion and excitement of Manhattan and Milan, we get a nod to something meaningful: the endangerment of quality journalism. Meryl Streep gives a master class as Miranda.

Humor Highlight:  Miranda’s backstage convo with Lady Gaga. Or maybe when she has to take a meeting at the cafeteria and she doesn’t know that there is such a thing in their building.