Twenty years on from the original, The Devil Wears Prada 2 arrives fashionably late, but it still knows how to make an entrance.
Instead of recycling the silhouette of its predecessor or relying on nostalgia, returning director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna pivot to a story driven by metrics and the churn of digital media.
The first outing's greatest sleight of hand was its ensemble cast bouncing off each other, and the best of that crowd are back in the mix.
Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly remains a magnetic force as the editor-in-chief of Runway magazine, still presiding over the fashion universe - or at least trying to - as the internet, HR departments, and general chaos take centre stage. The rules have changed, but her iconic glare hasn't. Streep delivers a razor-sharp performance that's just as funny as it is formidable, brimming with iconic one-liners and commanding screen presence.
Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) gets the film's most interesting upgrade. Now an award-winning journalist, she's traded a crisis of ambition for a messier reckoning with relevance. Hathaway brings back the effortless charm that defined her original role, once again anchoring the sequel emotionally from start to finish.
At Dior, Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt) has evolved into something far more influential: a senior executive whose dry humour masks a fluent understanding of how power now sashays through the fashion world. She's hugely entertaining, but in a knowing, unshowy way that feels entirely of the moment.
Watch: A clip from The Devil Wears Prada 2
The script is at its strongest when it leans into the film's central triangle, drawing its energy from the way Andy, Miranda, and Emily still spar with each other. On screen, the chemistry still crackles with familiar rhythms, rapid-fire exchanges, and the quiet sense that none of them are operating on the same level anymore.
The storytelling is quietly confident and, at its best, recaptures something of the original's bite, though it occasionally feels constrained by its own familiarity. A romantic subplot between Andy and an Australian property magnate (Patrick Brammall) never quite carries the weight needed to land.
The real spark of freshness comes from the new supporting cast, with Simone Ashley stealing scenes as Miranda's new first assistant. Justin Theroux and Lucy Liu have a lot of fun as Benji and Sasha Barnes, a former power couple whose messy history turns out to be unexpectedly crucial to Runway's future.
The follow-up is brimming with familiar faces from the world of fashion and entertainment, including cameos such as a cheeky "hold on, was that Rory McIlroy?" moment.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 proves the wait was worth it - the shoe still fits, just with a different heel.
