\n<\/p>\n
This article is part of\u00a0<\/i>Upstream,<\/i><\/a>\u00a0The Daily Wire\u2019s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories \u2014 from our featured writers to you.<\/i><\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Hollywood nostalgia bait cash-grab sequels are out of control, but \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2\u201d respects<\/a> its audience and the original story. And yes, I have to confess that this particular sequel was practically engineered in a lab to be sentimental for people like me.<\/span><\/p>\n I was nine years old when the first film came out (just a couple of years younger than Miranda Priestly\u2019s \u201cHarry Potter\u201d-loving twins), and I watched it at sleepovers and movie nights with friends, enthralled by Andy Sachs\u2019 glamorous life working at a New York City magazine. Now, 20 years later, I joined one of my girlfriends and a gaggle of other ladies (and plus ones) to watch the sequel on opening night. It didn\u2019t disappoint.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The plot follows a familiar pattern: Andy (Anne Hathaway) once again finds herself at Runway magazine (a stand-in for Vogue), butting heads with its legendary and ruthless editor, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). This time, modernity has truly set in. Andy has just been laid off from her job at a serious news organization, and she has gone viral for making an impassioned speech in defense of journalism. (That falls a little flat in the year of our Lord 2026, of course, but we\u2019ll let it slide.)<\/span><\/p>\n Miranda\u2019s higher-ups have brought Andy back in hopes that she can restore some credibility in the wake of a fast-fashion scandal. Suddenly, Andy, Miranda, and Nigel (Stanley Tucci) are reunited, with Simone Ashley serving up dry wit as Miranda\u2019s current assistant, Amari.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Times have changed, and Miranda has gotten one too many HR complaints for chucking her coat in the general direction of her various underlings. But she has proven too big to cancel, as several jokes are made at the expense of her exasperated assistant and her attempts at language policing.<\/span><\/p>\n Staring disapprovingly at a washed-out fashion shoot, Miranda prods, \u201cThe models were encouraged to mill around like starving goats in the parking lot of a methadone clinic in New Jersey?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n When Amari clears her throat, Miranda doubles down: \u201cWhat am I not allowed to say? Methadone? New Jersey?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The film is brimming with beautiful people wearing beautiful clothes, and it\u2019s chock-full of cameos, featuring everyone from Donatella Versace and Lady Gaga to Jenna Bush Hager \u2014 with one notable exception. Andy\u2019s old boyfriend, Nate (Adrian Grenier), who the internet has decided was the real villain of the original, <\/span>did not make it<\/span><\/a> to the sequel. That\u2019s probably for the best. The film is only slightly heavy-handed with its callbacks to the original (including the belts that are \u201cso different,\u201d the inviolability of Miranda\u2019s staircase, and Andy\u2019s cerulean sweater).<\/span><\/p>\n The plot is less madcap than that of the first film (who can forget when Andy scrambles to get her hands on the unpublished \u201cHarry Potter\u201d manuscript for Miranda\u2019s twins?), though it is still full of funny moments, mostly thanks to Miranda\u2019s and Nigel\u2019s devastating criticisms. After lamenting that Runway is now online-only, Nigel tells Andy he used to get weeks to travel the world for a magazine spread.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNow,\u201d he says, \u201cI\u2019m lucky if I get two days \u2026 to shoot content for people to scroll past whilst they pee.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2\u201d meets the modern era and its discontents \u2014 the villain is a tech bro in the vein of Jeff Bezos \u2014 without either getting too political or too depressing. The threat of AI has arrived; the billionaire is hoping to acquire Runway and outsource its work to artificial intelligence. Miranda\u2019s appeals to \u201ca commitment to beauty, artistry, the best in human achievement\u201d fall on deaf ears. But it\u2019s a comedy, and of course, all is well in the end.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This sequel manages to update its predecessor for a more digital world without too many hokey references to Gen Z or TikTok. The new landscape, however, proves that the halcyon days of the female journalist with the cool writing gig and the unattainably large New York City apartment \u2014 think \u201cHow to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,\u201d \u201cSex in the City,\u201d \u201cConfessions of a Shopaholic\u201d \u2014 are over. Some other prevailing archetype for the rom-com is destined to take its place, and audiences are ready for the genre\u2019s revival.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Fortunately, Hollywood seems to have learned a lesson from the success of the \u201cBarbie\u201d movie, which is that women will go to the theater with other women (and indulgent husbands) for a film that promises beauty, escapism, and hopefully a little bit of romance. We don\u2019t need more gritty realism or political lectures. We want to see Meryl Streep pursing her lips disapprovingly at Anne Hathaway\u2019s wide-lipped smile and Stanley Tucci rattling off the names of designers as he grabs a pair of sparkly pants for his prot\u00e9g\u00e9.<\/span><\/p>\n