But in her return to the world of Runway, screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna goes for a much more black-and-white palette. Turns out, Miranda was right about everything: Andy’s eventual success as a journalist, Emily’s unsuitability for the magazine world, keeping Nigel (Stanley Tucci) by her side even if it meant stymying his career. The sequel further drives home that point by setting up not one of multiple billionaires who have either strung Miranda along or threatened to kill the magazine by a thousand budget cuts as the real foe, but Emily, the person who dared to gun directly for Miranda’s job. I’m not saying Emily would have been a good EIC—in fact, the film doesn’t bother to set up her skills or inadequacies one way or the other. But no matter what Andy’s peacemaking gesture at the end says, Emily is made out to be the villain simply for thinking she could do what Miranda’s done.
Jacob Oller: Because The Devil Wears Prada 2 takes place in a fairy tale world where benevolent rich divorcees save print—where even the nouveau riche are depicted as entertainingly ignorant foils to the Patagonia-clad scions of big business—the real villain has to be someone disconnected from this relatively grounded (but still silly) vision of journalism’s place in the economy. In this way, the sequel mirrors the original: The villain is Andy’s taste in men. This is not to say that there is a ton wrong with Peter, the cinematically useless and handsome high-end contractor played by Patrick Brammall, aside from being a waste of screentime. He’s nice enough, his social media presence passes muster, and he actually reads some of Andy’s journalistic work. But this last point is the problem (again, aside from being so, so boring). Andy says none of her other boyfriends ever read her writing, over two decades of cranking out stories for respected outlets. If the point of the first film was Andy finding some self-respect while figuring out her career ambitions and personal values, her continued romantic slumming with illiterates is a real backslide.
Saloni Gajjar: The real villain is whoever decided not to give Simone Ashley’s Amari more to do. I kid (kind of). Much like the original, this sequel gave Miranda and Emily more complexity than just “she’s the cutthroat foe,” even though it’s obviously what they’re largely like. The Devil Wears Prada 2 zooms out of the leading quartet to depict the broader picture of why the media industry is in decline since the last time we saw them. And it’s undeniable that a huge reason is how imprudent CEOs who perceive themselves as driven actually end up ruining the business—not just journalism, but a lot of creative fields. To paraphrase Miranda, they’re vendors and not visionaries.
Perhaps I’m triggered by characters like Jay Ravitz (and his consultants), but to me, they are the Bad Guys at this moment in time. It’s not just because of the money-making goals they share, but because there’s no real attempt to find ways to support Runway and its writers/editors/employees. The only solution is to cut out everything that made it special. It’s then up to Andy to save the day because who else is going to do it? Is it wish fulfillment and fantasy that it works out for her and someone like Sasha Barnes agrees to help? Absolutely. Reality could never match up, but I found myself feeling oddly hopeful because Jay and Benji (and, yes, Emily to an extent) lost this round.
Drew Gillis: Most of the billionaires in The Devil Wears Prada 2 don’t actually end up looking that bad. Of course there’s Sasha who ultimately saves the day, but Benji, the unholy mix of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, still ultimately was going to save the magazine. He was just going to do it at the expense of Miranda, which the movie wants us to believe is a bad thing, despite learning 20 years ago that she was often abusive as a person to work for. Here, we find her humbled, begging advertisers not to pull out and *gasp* hanging up her own coats. She can’t pop off in meetings that same way she used to, but still has to be reminded of this fact. She’s ultimately a person who’s both deeply set in her ways yet adaptable enough to survive; Miranda was seemingly fine with everyone else losing their jobs after Jay (the most asshole-ish of the billionaires) brought in his hatchet guys people. I’m ultimately not all that convinced that letting Miranda hold onto all that power is a net good. Even if she is uniquely talented, she’s not going to live forever, and I would hope that Runway can survive beyond her tenure. Billionaires are bad, obviously, but we need to hold the gerontocracy to account, too.
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