Dennis Schwartz started his review by saying, “This
lightweight comedy directed by David Frankel (“Miami Rhapsody,” son of Max Frankel,
a former executive editor of The New York Times), who has earned his wings
mostly in television doing episodes for HBO’s “Entourage” and “Sex and the
City”, is based on Lauren Weisberger’s best-selling roman à clef about a bright
young aspiring journalist, Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Anne Hathaway), selling her
soul to the Devil at a New York fashion magazine. Weisberger researched her
book by working for a year as assistant for Vogue’s editor Anna Wintour. Though
the characters are all familiar stereotypes, the dialogue is nothing to write
home about, the moral arc of the story has little credibility and the story
itself has nothing important to say, nevertheless the frosty acting by Meryl
Streep is deliciously first-rate (reason alone for seeing the film) and it does
give the viewer an insider’s look inside the bustling world of fashion
journalism.”
Andy recently graduated from Northwestern and moved to
New York from the Midwest to be a journalist, but when she can’t get a real
journalism job, she suddenly gets hired as an assistant to head of business and
career-crazed editor of the important fashion Runway magazine, Miranda
Priestly, played by Meryl Streep. This difficult boss is called “the dragon
lady” and is considered the magnate in the fashion business. Schwartz said, “We
are told it’s a job that most young women would kill for but for Andy, who
cares nothing about fashion and dresses all wrong for the job, it’s supposedly
only a good career move where she can become known to other magazine editors by
mingling with the world shakers and movers and thereby move onto pursuing her
journalism career in the near future.”
Schwartz continued, “The job itself is merely being a
flunky to her imperious boss and her many irrational whims and taking further
grief from the number one assistant Emily (Emily Blunt), a snooty and curt Brit
who loves fashion and her job– and takes pleasure in insulting Andy about her
unfashionable frumpy appearance. In this stifling and oppressive atmosphere our
heroine is at the beck and call of her boss at all hours of the day or night
(thanks to the cell phone), given only 15 minutes for lunch and assigned
impossible tasks such as getting the new Harry Potter novel before it’s
published and finding a flight out of Miami for the boss during a hurricane
when all flights have been cancelled. At home Andy circulates with friends who
act as a Greek chorus to sympathize with her plight and a grungy, always
unshaven chef boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier), who is around as a plot device
to remind Andy that she’s sold out her ideals and to point out to those viewers
who might not have fully gotten it how far she has fallen and how hollow is the
world of fashion and celebrity. Despite all the workplace hostility and losing
contact with friends and live-in boyfriend, Andy hangs on for dear life and is
eventually given a fashion makeover by the magazine’s resident swish Nigel
(Stanley Tucci), Miranda’s art director, who becomes her protector and this
allows her to get enough confidence to get over on the job.”
The narrow story predictably lets us know before the
end that Andy has learned her lesson and gets back on the right track of
chasing her real goals. We know that was going to emerge within 15 minutes of
this film, so what we get from then on is a lustrous film that feels like
reading a fashion magazine – nice to look at but not much knowledge for the person.
I remember seeing trailers for this movie when it was
coming out. I thought it looked like a nice comedy, and when I saw it recently
on Hulu, I enjoyed it. Sure, Andy wouldn’t get the job after seeing the way her
interview went, but this is a comedy, so go with it. Also, I’m sure we all can
relate to having a boss like Miranda, who Streep plays perfectly. Everyone must’ve
had a boss who was difficult to work with and couldn’t please or satisfy, no
matter how hard we tried, so that is very relatable. Check this movie out, as I
think everyone will like it.
Sean P. Means asked in his review, “Isn’t the first
weekend in May the time for action movies, science fiction and fantasy, you may
ask. Then you look at what happens in “The Devil Wears Prada 2” and see that
it’s very much a fantasy — of the wish-fulfillment variety.”
When we see Hathaway’s Any Sachs, she’s left behind
Runway magazine, where she had a nightmare of an internship under the difficult
Miranda Priestly 20 years earlier. We’re told Andy has had a successful career
as a journalist, covering important stories all over the world, most recently
for a New York newspaper.
Right when she’s about to receive a respected award,
her phone notifies her – along with the phones of all her colleagues at the
table, they’ve all been laid off, via text. Andy gives an acceptance speech
that becomes a viral moment, as she grieves the status of American journalism.
Meanwhile, back at Runway, Miranda is dealing with a different
journalistic problem. Means said, “A poorly vetted puff piece about a
fast-fashion brand has blown up in her face, with the internet abuzz about the
sweatshop conditions that Runway failed to report. Miranda, who has seen her
extravagant budgets and print edition pages both slashed as she’s transitioned
to digital content, has her back against the wall.”
The owner of the magazine corporation, Ira Ravitz,
played by Tibor Feldman, decides to give Runway a credibility boost by hiring
Andy as its new features editor. Irv does this without first telling Miranda
just increases the tension when she meets Andy again. Andy tries to write some
solid news stories, but finds getting online readers to click on the articles
is a tougher challenge than she thought.
Meanwhile, Miranda has to make deals with advertisers,
which is how Andy again meets up with Emily Charlton, Miranda’s former
assistant and now an executive at Dior. Finishing the reunion, Andy also meets
up with Runway’s long-suffering design director, Nigel Kipling, still feeling
sore from Miranda’s lack of appreciation for his many talents.
Means notes, “It’s fascinating to watch director David
Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, both back from the first movie,
use the real-life problems of today’s journalism — capricious ownership,
corporate bean-counting, sacrificing credibility for clickbait — in a setting where
ostentatious wealth and sequined glamour are the norm.” What’s even stranger to
let audiences, who probably complained about the drive to the theaters, think about
which billionaire to cheer for: Irv, Emily’s tech boyfriend (Justin Theroux) or
his ex-wife (Lucy Liu).
Means pointed out, “There’s a fair amount of wit in
the script, with Tucci’s Nigel again getting many of the best lines as he
continues to school the surprisingly sunny Andy in both fashion and appeasing
Miranda. (As a jaded old journalist, I question how enthusiastic and spunky
Andy seems to be after two decades as a reporter.)”
Means continues, “But the real fun – aside from
picking out the many cameo appearances and luxuriating in the playgrounds of
the extremely rich — is watching Hathaway and Streep back together to spar
again as the imperious Miranda and the optimistic Andy.” Hathaway appears to
set the standards with Streep, and Streep seems to enjoy working to turn this
impossibly difficult character into something human. Their chemistry gives “The
Devil Wears Prada 2” the bubbly energy it needs.
For one of the surprising sequels that no one was expecting,
this one is really good. If you loved the first one, then definitely check the
sequel on Hulu. I think everyone will enjoy these movies a lot, so I give them
a recommendation. You will get some laughs and see a relatable workplace, if you
have worked in one. The characters are all great and I believe everyone has had
a boss and/or colleagues like the ones portrayed in these films. See them to
know what I mean.
Thank you for joining in on these review tonight. Stay
tuned this Friday for the continuation of “Animated Environmental Movie Month.”
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