‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ – Review Thread

Miranda Priestly struggles against Emily Charlton, her former assistant turned rival executive, as they compete for advertising revenue amid declining print media, while Miranda nears retirement.

Director: David Frankel

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Kenneth Branagh, Simone Ashley, Caleb Hearon

Rotten Tomatoes: 76%

Metacritic: 61 / 100

Some Reviews (updating):

Associated Press – Jake Coyle

In the workplace, this would be called progress. On the screen, it’s a setback. Everyone, even Miranda, is a bit too, well, nice in “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” We should relish every Streep performance. It’s been five years since she had a major role in a movie; a once constant joy of moviegoing has turned infrequent. I wouldn’t begrudge anyone who just wants to see her and these actors together again. But the movie, well stocked in Prada, could have used a bit more of Streep’s unflappable devil.

The Independent – Clarisse Loughrey – 4 / 5

Costume designer Molly Rogers replicates the first film’s ethos of bland but easily marketable looks, with plenty of corsets worn over crisp, white shirts and a T-bar necklace permanently around Andy’s neck. To the film’s credit, there’s also real style tucked into the periphery, as characters breeze past Richard Quinn florals and Lady Gaga, still in her Tim Burton demon era, performs on a runway of models in loose, patterned Seventies gowns and oversized hats. It’s a compromise. But, then, that’s what The Devil Wears Prada 2 has turned out to be all about – it’s artistry snuck in beneath the commerce.

Slant Magazine – Jake Cole – 2.5 / 5

Befitting its image-conscious milieu, The Devil Wears Prada 2 has the aspartame fake-sweetness and zero-calorie comfort of its predecessor: It’s charming enough in the moment, but you’ll be hungry again half an hour later.

Collider – Taylor Gates – 8 / 10

The chemistry between the returning and new characters of Runway in The Devil Wears Prada 2 is spot-on, making the film feel cohesive, and it successfully tackles crucial issues of our modern era that are relevant for 2026. While there may be one or two too many callbacks to the first film and a couple of unnecessary subplots, the sequel doesn’t rely entirely on nostalgia, nor does it strip away everything that made the original great. Maybe it’s not a perfect balance, but it’s pretty close to it. I don’t think I’ll be quoting this one as frequently as the first, but I certainly see myself grabbing some popcorn and peanut M&M’s for a pretty epic double-feature in the future.

IGN – Michael Peyton – 7 / 10

The Devil Wear Prada 2 plays the hits. It’s a glossy, charming, and razor-sharp follow-up to the beloved 2006 original. Characters are allowed to grow and change, which is often admirable, but can also be frustrating when it comes to some legacy favorites. The movie is not nearly as biting as its predecessor, but it’s a serviceable successor for fans looking to return to the world of Runway magazine.

USA Today – Brian Truitt – 3 / 4

While Hathaway and Tucci have a warm chemistry that they’re able to rekindle, the real throwback that works best is Andy and Emily’s relationship. There’s bonding, butting heads and everything in between as the movie works to develop Blunt’s character a little more, and it makes up for the stuff that doesn’t work. Like a forced relationship angle with Andy and nice-guy Australian contractor Peter (Patrick Brammall). He’s a forgettable addition whereas Justin Theroux is a standout as Blunt's hilariously awkward, AI-loving tech bro love interest. Like so much of this sequel, he interestingly feels inspired and real among the fiction. That, and a soft spot for reportage, may not seem fashionable for a “Devil Wears Prada” movie, but we’ll take it.

The Wrap – William Bibbiani – 5 / 10

We like to joke about how 'this meeting could have been an email' but if all 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' can offer is Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt on-screen together again, then this film could have been a Zoom call.

AwardsWatch – Erik Anderson – 'B+'

Not everything here works though; a side plot involving Andy being commissioned to write a tell all book on Miranda looms, heralding in the literal creation of the story that bears the film’s very name is a bit too on the nose, and a very late in the film reconciliation feels unearned. But these are small grievances. After all, am I reaching for the stars here? As viewers, we bring to a film not only what we know of these characters and how much we love or hate or love to hate them, but also who they are in the pantheon of cinema. I don’t know if this means there needs to be a threequel in this series but this trio will always be in dépêche mode.

RogerEbert – Tomris Laffly – 2.5 / 4

The film’s exceedingly naïve “good billionaire” angle aside, it’s nice to reunite with old characters that we love, witness a healthy dose of fan servicing—the finale between Andy and Emily is especially shameless yet wonderful—and get a glimpse of that braid-knit cerulean sweater again, which, I admit, I liked much better in its original lumpy form. But you can’t help but wish that this edition of the story was a bit more… groundbreaking. The movie takes us through new versions of the beats from the first film. This is good-natured, buoyant entertainment. It’s wearing well.

The Guardian – Peter Bradshaw – 3 / 5

It is a pleasure to see (most of) the old gang back, including screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna and director David Frankel. (I groan at the grumpy and obtuse response I had to the first film, before watching it again on TV and epiphanically realising how great it is.) It’s very funny when Miranda hasn’t the smallest memory of who Andy is. Or has she? Justin Theroux is amusing as Emily’s grinningly daft-yet-sinister plutocrat boyfriend Benji.

IndieWire – Kate Erbland – 'C+'

Seriously, when did everyone forget that this franchise is based on a dishy roman à clef in which Wintour is, hello, referred to as the Devil? That punch and pop is missing this time around, bespoke comedy replaced here with strictly off-the-rack endeavors. Fine enough, really, but if the first film was the kind of thing that never goes out of style, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” will last a season. That’s all.

The Atlantic – David Sims

Ahead of watching the sequel, I worried about what I thought would be a lazy parade of fan service; I feared that the movie would lob catchphrases and cameos at the audience like dead fish to a herd of clapping seals … But the magazine’s budgets are no longer limitless, the September issue is not quite as thick with glossy ads, and dreaded words such as content and traffic are bandied about during meetings that used to be focused on which passed appetizers would be served at an upcoming gala. The sequel thus finds a good reason to exist: It has plenty of breezy fun probing the dilemmas of modern media, without abandoning the glitz that made the original so enduring.

nss magazine – Martina Barone

What makes watching The Devil Wears Prada 2 enjoyable, and prevents audiences from feeling the need to underline how immortal the first film is at every frame, is the tone established by McKenna’s rhythmic writing, which in turn echoes Frankel’s direction and ends up resonating in the sparkling performances of the lead actors. Even the humor lands well, which is often the trickiest thing given the shifting cloak of comedy, never the same as years go by. The irony of The Devil Wears Prada 2 is not domesticated, remaining faithful to the personality of its editor Miranda Priestly, and it is clever enough not to forget the times in which it arrives, where jokes about what can or cannot be said are not a jab at so-called political correctness, but rather a way to contextualize the world in which both we and the film find ourselves, understanding it, respecting it, and every now and then joking about it.

Slash Film – BJ Colangelo – 6 / 10

The characters remain inherently watchable so there's a baseline pleasure in returning to them, but that's ultimately the problem — affection does the heavy lifting that the storytelling won't. For a movie that insists on the value of artistry, it certainly plays like an expensive knock-off. I liked it fine, because I love these characters in this world, but ultimately… that's all.

The Playlist – Gregory Ellwood – 'B'

The main cast is top-tier. Their chemistry is superb. And every time you think Blunt has hilariously stolen the movie from her co-stars, Streep, Hathaway, or Tucci pop up to remind you what powerhouses they are and steal it back. We’re not sure there will ever be another “Devil Wears Prada” installment, but be glad this one came along. At worst, to reinforce that shining memory of the original, at best to simply delight you for two hours. Hey, it might even be an improvement on that first flick. Wonder what we’ll think about the sequel 20 years from now. Assuming humans are even writing reviews, then…

Next Best Picture – Dan Bayer – 6 / 10

While “The Devil Wears Prada 2” isn’t too sweet, it could certainly use more sour notes. The callbacks to the first film get the balance mostly right, but outside of those nicely judged moments, the film can sometimes feel like Miranda struggling with the new HR guidelines: Trying to be biting, but turning out toothless. Stopping the film dead in its tracks for an Italian fashion show/music video, while fun, completely ruins its momentum right when the plot is about to reach its climax. Frankel’s commercial instincts (and Theodore Shapiro’s updates of his underrated original score) keep it entertaining, but for a film with this premise, it feels a bit weightless. That can be a good thing, especially when the film focuses on its cast of characters figuring out how to solve professional problems. The film is enjoyable, fleet on its feet, and provides some food for thought. But when said food for thought is as heavy as it is here, one can’t help but wish it was given a bit more space to develop. There’s a valuable message here about the importance of print journalism and the danger of technology pushing human creativity and ingenuity aside. Still, the sharpness of “The Devil Wears Prada” has been so sanded down for the sequel that it lacks the bite to make it truly memorable.

Variety – Guy Lodge

The good news is that “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is not willfully enshittified. It’s a sequel made with intelligence and respect for both its predecessor and the legions who still love it, so much so that it functions less as a follow-up than as a kind of tribute act, albeit one featuring all the original talent — picking out the comic and dramatic highs from the first film and faithfully replaying them with the same moves and cadences. But it is, by almost any metric, a lesser movie: narratively, emotionally and cinematically flatter, buoyed by game performances that nonetheless steadfastly fail to surprise. And in almost every way that it falls short, it illustrates something that’s been taken from mainstream Hollywood moviemaking since 2006.

Fresh Fiction – Courtney Howard – 2 / 5

A large portion of being a great executive assistant is anticipating the boss’s needs. That’s what journalism’s scrappy underling Andy Sachs learned in 2006’s THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. She also learned how to strut in highly coveted Chanel boots and reject a life full of self-serving backstabbing simply by tossing her abrasively-ringtone’d Sidekick into Paris’ Fontaine des Fleuves. So it comes as a stinging irony that its sequel, arriving 20 years later, fails to anticipate its audience’s need for a rousing, or at least satisfying story in addition to the fantasy’s glitz, gloss and glam. It’s absolutely admirable that returning director David Frankel and writer Aline Brosh McKenna ground their dramatics in reality’s ever-evolving decay and disappearance of journalistic institutions, but their chosen narrative is a patchwork of thinly connected story whims containing no suspense or surprise, coated in lots of beautiful sequins.