NEW YORK (OSV News) – "The Devil Wears Prada 2" (20th Century), director David Frankel's second send-up of the fashion world, reunites one of the more memorable casts of recent decades. The predictable result is a glamorous good time for moviegoers.
Occasional salty dialogue and an incidental yet potentially misleading theological notion, however, suggest this polished diversion is safest for grown-ups.
The proceedings get off to a downbeat start. Having achieved her long-term ambition to become a serious journalist, Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Anne Hathaway), the protagonist of the first film, is summarily fired from the staff of her newspaper -- along with a number of her colleagues.
Yet it's not long before Andy is thrown a lifeline. Runway, the prestigious fashion magazine where she once toiled as a lowly assistant, has suffered a major blow to its image and the publication's chairman, Irv Ravitz (Tibor Feldman), calls on Andy to help set things right by becoming its features editor.
This means, of course, that Andy, albeit from a much elevated position, will once again be answering to Runway's impossibly imperious editor-in-chief, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). More promisingly, she'll also be collaborating with her former mentor, Runway's good-hearted, self-effacing art director Nigel Kipling (Stanley Tucci).
And what of Miranda's other downtrodden underling of earlier times, Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt)? She's become a bigwig at Dior, one of Runway's most prized advertisers.
Although Andy conscientiously endeavors to give journalistic depth to her work, she's caught up in a series of distracting crises. These result in various behind-the-scenes machinations as well as suddenly shifting alliances.
Amid it all, this follow-up to the 2006 screen version of Lauren Weisberger's 2003 fact-based novel, penned by returning screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, sees most of its main characters becoming gentler and more humane. In particular, Andy comes to appreciate that Miranda, for all her aloofness, is a gifted leader dedicated to promoting quality craftsmanship.
There is at least one bump in the road for viewers of faith, though. While hosting a dinner for clients in the Milan monastic refectory decorated with Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, Miranda points out to Andy that the figure of Christ in the famous mural lacks a halo.
This, she explains, was the artist's way of suggesting that Jesus, like the rest of us, was fallible and subject to moral lapses. It's clear from the context that this observation has more to do with Miranda's own agenda than with either genuine art history or the Christian faith. Yet the incident, while momentary, will jar the sensibilities of orthodox believers.
This odd detour out of the way, it's back to haute couture, elegant villas on Lake Como and the like. The humor is sharp, the company mostly congenial and the schmata shiny. All together, it's a winning formula.
The film contains mature themes, sexual references, about a half-dozen mild oaths, at least one instance each of rough and crude language and a couple of crass terms. The OSV News classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Caption: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, and Stanley Tucci, star in a scene from the movie "The Devil Wears Prada 2." The OSV News classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. (OSV News photo/Macall Polay, 20th Century Studios)
