THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 : Tuesday 5th May 2026

I saw the M Rated 'THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2' earlier this week, and this eagerly awaited and much hyped American comedy drama film is Directed by David Frankel, who made his feature film debut with 'Miami Rhapsody' in 1995, and would follow this up with the likes of 'The Devil Wears Prada' in 2006, 'Marley & Me' in 2008, 'Hope Springs' in 2012, 'Collateral Beauty' in 2016, and 'Jerry & Marge Go Large' in 2022. This film is a direct sequel to the 2006 film 'The Devil Wears Prada' and saw its World Premiere screening in New York City on 20th April, and was released in all major territories from last week. The film has generated largely positive critical acclaim and has so far grossed US$254M from a production budget of US$100M. The 2006 film grossed worldwide US$327M from a production budget of US$40M. 

The film opens up on a beautiful sunny day in New York City, and its now been twenty years since Andrea 'Andy' Sachs (Anne Hathaway)  left her position as Second Assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) at Runway magazine. In the intervening years she has become a respected journalist and reporter for New York newspaper 'Vanguard'. We join Andy as she and her colleagues sit around a table at a New York awards gala luncheon, just as Andy is called out as the recipient of a prestigious journalism award. Before she can stand up and walk to the lectern to collect her award and say a few words all of the mobile phones at her table receive the same text message - they have all been fired with immediate effect, and Vanguard has gone into receivership. 

Meanwhile, Miranda, Andy's former boss, is seemingly under attack from all sides for her failure to short circuit an on-line news piece about a fashion brand heavily promoted by Runway that uses Asian sweatshop labour. The news breaks just as Miranda arrives at a high-end fashion event and is greeted by her right-hand man Nigel (Stanley Tucci), and they both put on a brave face and carry on regardless. In an attempt to make the magazine respectable again Irv Ravitz (Tibor Feldman), the owner of Runway's parent company Elias-Clarke and Miranda's boss, calls Andy out of the blue and offers her a job as Features Editor at Runway without Miranda's knowledge or approval, much to her chagrin.

In a meeting with her team, a listless Miranda has trouble navigating modern fashion media. Although some of her autocratic office behaviours remain, complaints to Human Resources have blunted her almost trademark pretentiousness. Nigel explains to Andy over lunch in the office cafeteria that nobody reads Runway's print edition anymore and the brand has been forced to embrace online clickbait and cheaply-made short-form content that most people read while sat on the toilet, to maintain profit and relationships with advertisers. One key advertiser is Dior, which employs Andy's former co-worker and Miranda's First Assistant Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt). Emily leverages the controversy over the Runway scandal piece to secure her own advertising terms, key Editorial content and a one on one interview, which Miranda handballs straight to Andy. During the interview, Emily and Andy argue about how modern fashion raises prices and shuts out middle-class consumers, with Emily saying that super high-end luxury fashion is the only fashion that makes money these days.

After penning serious articles that receive praise for the writing and content, yet gain minimal traction, and after getting shut down by Miranda in a team meeting, Andy rescues her flagging reputation at Runway by brokering a coveted interview with Sasha Barnes (Lucy Liu), the reclusive divorcee of Silicon Valley billionaire Benji Barnes (Justin Theroux). Irv promises to make Miranda Elias-Clarke's global head of content, but before he can make the promotion official, he dies from a heart attack during his lavish 75th birthday party. His son, Jay (B.J. Novak), lacks Irv's sentimental attachment to both any sense of fashion or Runway. Jay puts Miranda's promotion on hold while engaging management consultants to recommend cost cuts and business efficiencies. Much to Andy's surprise, Miranda seems to go with the flow. Meanwhile, Andy's relationship with her new boyfriend Peter (Patrick Brammall) sours when she unintentionally insults his job as an apartment renovator while sat in an apartment she purchased from the same renovator, while also fretting she may lose her own position, as part of the major shake-up at Runway. Considering her options, Andy explores writing a tell-all book about Miranda with a publisher, who offers her a lucrative US$350K advance, but Andy is torn by this prospect, and ultimately declines the offer.

And so Miranda, Nigel, Andy and Miranda's current First Assistant Amari Mari (Simone Ashley) jet off to Milan Fashion Week, where Nigel throws what may be his last big Runway gala, starring Lady Gaga (Lady Gaga). Andy devises a plan to save Runway by convincing a wealthy patron to buy it outright from Jay. That patron is Benji Barnes, Sasha's ex-husband and Emily’s current boyfriend. When Andy and Emily reveal the plan, Miranda is furious, because she knows Emily is going to take over Runway and fire her, which Emily openly admits. Miranda admits that she pushed Emily out of fashion journalism because Emily lacks creative vision, and is just a 'vendor'. Miranda tries to take the loss with grace, but while having a private conversation with Benji, she is alarmed by his vision of an AI-driven world.

To prevent Benji and Emily from ultimately destroying Runway, Miranda instructs Andy to find a competing buyer. Andy convinces Sasha to buy not just Runway but all of Elias-Clarke, and Jay accepts her offer, pulling out of his deal with Benji while he, Benji and Emily are sat around a table at Benji's private villa on the edge of Lake Como. Needless to say Benji and Emily are left completely gobsmacked by this sudden turn of events having come so close to finalising the deal. Later that evening Miranda realises she has taken Nigel for granted for almost the whole time they have worked side by side. To make amends, she invites him to deliver the gala's keynote speech instead of her, so she and Andy can fly back to the US to finalise the deal in person with Sasha. At first he is very reluctant, but Miranda responds saying that he wrote the speech anyway, so he'll know it, and he nails it.

After the Runway team return to New York, Sasha gives Miranda the promotion Irv had previously promised her. Andy reconciles with Peter, and a defeated Emily who has subsequently been ditched by Benji and lost her job at Dior, and now has a job at Coach. Nigel reveals he was the one who prompted Irv to rehire Andy, as he has always liked her. Miranda admits to Andy that the latter's idealism inspired her to dig in, grit her teeth and fight back. She also reveals that she knew about Andy's proposed tell-all book, but encourages Andy to write it, and include the negative aspects of Miranda's life, saying that she loves her career, but there is a cost, and people should know that. Miranda gives Andy a nicer office and returns to work with a renewed smugness. The film also stars Kenneth Branagh as Miranda's new husband Stuart Simmons.

With 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' here returning Director David Frankel has reassembled the core team from the 2006 movie and added a whole bunch of other A-list talent from the cinema and fashion worlds, and adorned them all in the most stunning haute couture outfits seen possibly in any film since the original graced our screens twenty years ago. Whilst this film doesn't reach the lofty heights that the first instalment did, it is nonetheless a respectable sequel that has some pointed messages about fast fashion, the decline in print media, the reliance we have on social media and emerging AI, career dynamics, and the cut throat world of big business. Streep, Tucci, Hathaway and Blunt are all on top form and its good to see them all back together riffing off each other and delivering some notable one liners along the way. The production values are also top notch, and its easy to see where the US$100M budget went as both New York City and Milan are presented in all their sun drenched glistening city tower blocks and ancient buildings will attest to. All that said, an enjoyable time at the Odeon, but please, lets end on a high note and we don't need 'The Devil Wears Prada 3'. 

'The Devil Wears Prada 2' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-