David Frankel’s “The Devil Wears Prada 2” was released in theaters on Friday, May 1 and had a runtime of one hour and 59 minutes. The film is a sequel to “The Devil Wears Prada” and explores the fictitious Runway magazine staff and publication during the decline of print media.
Going into this movie, I’d heard nothing but glowing reviews from the internet. From the way people were talking about it online, you’d think it would be just as iconic as the original. But to my dismay, that was not the case at all. Apart from the cameo from Lady Gaga, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” was nowhere near as good as the first film was; and to put it bluntly– was rather forgettable at times.
Immediately after coming out of the theater, I was left feeling like how I feel when Disney announces yet another live action film as opposed to coming up with a new concept. There was so much potential to make a great sequel, and it fell flat so hard. The display of Miranda’s vulnerability felt forced and the Andy romance subplot also felt forced. And when there weren’t random plot additions, they’d introduce someone into the scene that you’d least expect to be there. (Hello Caleb Hearon and Lady Gaga!) It felt like the writers were just throwing one thing after another at the viewers in a shallow attempt at keeping the audience’s attention.
Additionally, you could tell the film was trying (and failing) to cater to Gen Z audiences. The beauty of the first film came with the appearance of a glamorous and gritty fashion industry and the fashion in the film reflecting that motive. However in the second film, they tried to replicate that feeling with a modern audience and ended up failing. Most of the fashion gave Shein/Temu slop, and again– it was trying too hard to be just as iconic as the original. You can tell the writers saw how the original was starting to trend online with Gen Z, and they wanted to run with that momentum in this film. Because of this, the characters in the first film (Miranda, Andy, Emily) that made it trend in the first place tried to out-do their original personalities. Obviously this is not a critique on the actors’ ability to act. It’s more about the writer’s ability to write a good script.
To conclude, this movie was honestly a hot mess. I would rate the movie two out of five stars. I am physically incapable of understanding where the good reviews came from. And more importantly, I’m left wondering “Why is Hollywood unable to create new ideas for movies? When will we stop creating sequel after sequel?” We are so tired of the remakes! We want something new! I wanted to love this movie… But I literally could not.