Movie review
Let me just be clear up front here: Certain scenes from the original “The Devil Wears Prada” movie, from 20 years ago, are so ingrained in my brain that I frequently hear Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly weighing in on things in my head — and maybe you do, too. (“Why is no one read-dy?,” in her chilly singsong from the first movie, plays often. I mean, really, why is no one ready?) Unfortunately, she had a few things to say to me about “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” most notably, “Why is this movie so fla-at?” Sorry, Miranda; I wish I knew.
“The Devil Wears Prada 2,” despite reuniting the entire top-line team from the original (director David Frankel; screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna; stars Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci), lacks the first movie’s playful spark; it feels like fan fiction, with everyone gamely going through the motions without finding anything fresh.
Two decades after the original, journalist Andy (Hathaway) gets improbably hired back at Runway magazine, reunited with her old boss/nemesis Miranda and her wry ally Nigel (Tucci); her frenemy Emily (Blunt) now works in high-end retail. Fashion is worn, lavish homes are visited, light revenge is wreaked, mild observations are made about the state of journalism and … honestly, I’m writing this after just seeing this movie last night and I can’t remember much else about the plot, except that it wasn’t very funny and that I want all of Andy’s outfits.
If you haven’t seen the original, I think this movie would be downright puzzling; it’s full of homages and callbacks, even down to repeating the same pop songs (Madonna’s “Vogue,” of course) and giving Andy another very boring love interest. (Hot tip, for those new to this universe: When you watch the first one, skip ahead during every scene with Andy’s boyfriend. He’s completely dispensable, and it makes for a much better movie.)
And you might also be mystified as to why Streep’s Miranda looms so large in legend; she’s written and played quite differently here, less imperious and mildly clueless. It makes sense that Miranda, now in her 70s, might be a bit out of touch with the current workplace, but it’s a lot less fun to watch. (I didn’t need to see Miranda hanging up her own coat, or flying coach.) Streep seems curiously remote this time around; she’s got a few perfect moments (there’s a brief, iconic hair-flip, made less impactful by being repeated later, and a lovely scene in which Miranda walks alone in a deserted Italian shopping plaza), but it’s as if the filmmakers forgot that Miranda’s power came from her terrifying silence, never saying more than she needed to.
Anyway! We all want to watch this movie to see its stars striding badassedly around in sunglasses and couture, and there’s plenty of that, not to mention way more fashion-world cameos than last time around. New cast members have been added: some charming (Helen J. Shen is very funny as Andy’s capable assistant), some less so (Kenneth Branagh is mystifying as Miranda’s third husband — I’m going to need a whole other movie about how these two got together — and Lucy Liu has nothing to do as a dull rich person).
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” gives us a lot to look at, and Hathaway and Blunt in particular are a pleasure (they have a scene together, late in the film, that’s almost worth the ticket price right there), but it’s flat Champagne: maybe worth drinking in a pinch, but unsatisfying. “We just can’t keep sucking the soul out of everything,” Andy says earnestly at one point. Indeed, we can’t. That’s all.
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