'The Devil Wears Prada 2': Not Quite as Good, but Not Bad.

Kurt Loder
Fri, 01 May 2026 10:09:52 -0700
Lifestyle

The new "Devil Wears Prada" sequel, swanning into theaters 20 years after the release of the first film, offers four things very worth revisiting. The first is Meryl Streep, back in designer harness as Miranda Priestly, the frosty editor-in-chief of the rag-trade bible Runway (basically Vogue, you'll recall). Also returning are Anne Hathaway as the formerly naive ingenue Andy Sachs, now all grown up; Emily Blunt as Andy's former tormenter Emily Charlton, now a big deal at Dior; and the excellent Stanley Tucci as Nigel Kipling, Miranda's miserably indentured in-house design genius. It also doesn't hurt that original director David Frankel, writer Aline Brosh McKenna, cinematographer Florian Ballhaus, and composer Theodore Shapiro are reprising their roles as well.

Is "Prada 2" as good as "Prada 1"? Of course not. But it's not bad. Since you can only be thrilled by something for the first time once, these characters naturally intermingle differently two decades later. The Italian fashion capital of Milan, for example, in which a glittery couture safari is set, doesn't measure up to the twinkling, magical Paris that Ballhaus confected for the first film's Fashion Week sojourn. There's been an autumnal softening of some of the characters, too, especially Streep's Miranda. Previously a dragon lady for the ages, she's now looking back and wondering if maybe some important parts of life have passed her by. (Not that it'll entirely wreck her day if they have.)

The biggest changes, of course — for the characters as for us — have been in the mutating world in which we're all stuck. The movie begins at an awards dinner for "serious" journalists. Midway through the ceremony some of the attendees' phones go off, registering the arrival of a text telling them they've been laid off by their employer, a publication called The Vanguard. Like everyone else, Vanguard staffer Andy is shaken. As we saw at the end of "Prada 1," she forsook a glamorous gig at Runway all those years ago to seek out a job in the more meaningful world of "real" journalism. And she found it. And now it's gone.
Updated: Fri May 01, 2026

The new "Devil Wears Prada" sequel, swanning into theaters 20 years after the release of the first film, offers four things very worth revisiting. The first is Meryl Streep, back in designer harness as Miranda Priestly, the frosty editor-in-chief of the rag-trade bible Runway (basically Vogue, you'll recall). Also returning are Anne Hathaway as the formerly naive ingenue Andy Sachs, now all grown up; Emily Blunt as Andy's former tormenter Emily Charlton, now a big deal at Dior; and the excellent Stanley Tucci as Nigel Kipling, Miranda's miserably indentured in-house design genius. It also doesn't hurt that original director David Frankel, writer Aline Brosh McKenna, cinematographer Florian Ballhaus, and composer Theodore Shapiro are reprising their roles as well.

Is "Prada 2" as good as "Prada 1"? Of course not. But it's not bad. Since you can only be thrilled by something for the first time once, these characters naturally intermingle differently two decades later. The Italian fashion capital of Milan, for example, in which a glittery couture safari is set, doesn't measure up to the twinkling, magical Paris that Ballhaus confected for the first film's Fashion Week sojourn. There's been an autumnal softening of some of the characters, too, especially Streep's Miranda. Previously a dragon lady for the ages, she's now looking back and wondering if maybe some important parts of life have passed her by. (Not that it'll entirely wreck her day if they have.)

The biggest changes, of course — for the characters as for us — have been in the mutating world in which we're all stuck. The movie begins at an awards dinner for "serious" journalists. Midway through the ceremony some of the attendees' phones go off, registering the arrival of a text telling them they've been laid off by their employer, a publication called The Vanguard. Like everyone else, Vanguard staffer Andy is shaken. As we saw at the end of "Prada 1," she forsook a glamorous gig at Runway all those years ago to seek out a job in the more meaningful world of "real" journalism. And she found it. And now it's gone.

Through a series of fortuitous events, and following a serious misstep by Miranda, Andy finds herself hired back by Runway. No sooner is she settled into an office the size of a garden shed, however, than the magazine's owner dies and his son — an insufferable tech bro named Jay (B.J. Novak) — takes over and sets about destroying virtually everything the Runway nabobs hold dear — like free car services and first-class air travel.

Adding further plot texture to the proceedings are Emily's multi-gazillionaire boyfriend, Benji (Justin Theroux), and his philanthropist ex-wife Sasha (Lucy Liu), over whom Miranda is salivating for an exclusive interview. Miranda also has a new husband this time out, played by the amiable Kenneth Branagh; and because no need was felt to recall Adrian Grenier into the story this time, Andy has a new love interest too — an amiable Australian construction contractor named Peter (Patrick Brammall). More pertinent than either of these men, however, is one of Andy's writer pals, played by Rachel Bloom ("Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"), who is fielding a book-deal offer for Andy to write a warts-and-all biography of ... Miranda Priestly.

The movie is not quite as generously stocked with lively dialogue as the first film — there's nothing as punchy as Emily's "I will search every Blimpie's in the tri-state area until I track you down." But there are some wicked jibes. ("You're not a visionary," Miranda tells a Runway subordinate, "you're a vendor.") And flickers of mournful rhetoric, too. "Remember when magazines were a thing?" Emily asks Nigel, unsure if anyone does anymore.