10:09 AM

TLDR I wished that this film could have stood on it's own two feet versus it being a $100 Million homage to the first film.



This is mostly bitching and a lot of jumping around in my thoughts. I have no one to talk to about this specific film in a way that they remotely begin to understand what the fuck I'm talking about.



Finally got to watch The Devil Wears Prada 2. Damn you adult responsiblities.



I really enjoyed the first one. But this film was trying soooo hard to emulate it that it took so much away from what it could have been. Also doesn't help that the first film was the last time I enjoyed watching Anne Hathaway orz (I just this a lot so I'm just gonna add the source here). Andy's character was all over the place in my opinion :( The film forces her to be pushed back into her 20 years ago self, okay erased. She seemed to have progressed so much career wise, Emily even noted that Andy had visibly shown to be more confident in her sense of self. So, it was a let down to see her default immediately to how she was as Miranda's assistant even though this time around Andy got rehired to be the features editor at Runway. There were just too many scenes inserted solely to reflect the first film, it didn't get a chance to be it's own identity.



Her outfits were kind of a bore to me, which sucked cause she has help from Nigel again, snagging stuff from the closet. They definitely suited her silhouette beautifully but the style was screaming how Blake Lively chose to style herself in It Ends with Us. It stood out too much and was loud for no reason other than commercial, which yes that is the point of ALL media. Everything was just a red flag for an ad.



I'm gonna say something insane now. It was like watching a Batman film. I LOVE BATMAN as a story. I don't like that every film needs 2 to 3 villains because 1 is never considered a real threat. It makes everything soooooo busy and no one has a true focus on their motivations. Hell, Rob Pat's The Batman had 4 villains: Catwoman, Riddler, Penguin and Carmine Falcone. The Devil Wears Prada 2 I felt suffered from too many character interactions happening.



The inclusion of BJ Novak almost made me skip the film all together. Had the displeasure of working with him. I just don't like him, he's mediocre and tries to sell things to people that we don't need, like The List app, sir everyone and their mama uses the notes app for free. What are you on about? Nonetheless, he was perfectly casted for his role in the film.



Maybe every 30 mins there's a song that plays that alludes to the first film's theme? (the tiktok I linked they said it sounds like Route 209 from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl LOL but you can for sure here it) it's been reorchestrated for this film. It got over played quickly.



I was also just very confused with the ending where Miranda encouraged Andy to release the tell all book exposing her for being an insane boss to have/what it takes to stay on top. When the whole point of Andy being hired to begin with was to fix Runway and Miranda's image. Also Nigel having any personal contact with Jay (BJ Novak's character) to tie everything back together to get Andy a job at Runaway again seemed random but whatever made he has to also style the company's owner's son??? What do I know LOL

He said he barely gets huge projects anyway so maybe he does XD



Emily's character seemed the most changed and rounded out. They way they styled her perfectly matches the reason why Miranda pushed her out from Runway to work at Dior, she doesn't have what it takes, she is a follower not a leader. Her fits having the brand names in huge font. Nothing was bold, it was very tacky and garish. Her wanting to reach out to Andy after she left in the first film was so heartbreaking. Andy thinking it was a buttdail was literally so stupid or a cop out. They could have been actual friends the last 20 years. Makes me think of how cowardly they were in Legally Blonde. ELLE AND VIVIAN WERE SUPPOSE TO BE HOLDING HANDS ON A VACATION IN HAWAII TOGETHER. But, that scene was scraped from the final cut in favor of the more safe ending of Elle being with Emmett. Literally if only society could just let people be gay LMAO



Also Andy would have 1000% called back Emily??? are you fuckin' kidding me? Had they actually talked 20 years ago things for the second film would have been more like the books. But that's not how life is. Hollywood will always go for what will make money the most and safely. And that's so unfortunate.



No, Adrian Grenier this film, new love interest is played by Patrick Brammall. This is one of the factors I'm talking about when I say there's too much going on in this film. There's no reason for Andy to have a love interest especially when they made this guy so perfect and respectful for her and she took him for granted and belittled him due to work frustrations. Again... so she learned nothing... You can cut him from the film, it won't impact anything storywise. I get that we want to have it all, but Andy is clearly in love with working. More than trying to fix/maintain a good love life. imo.



Andy also gets an assistant in this film that has been the subject to a lot of controversy, Jin, played by Helen J. Shen. I will preface that I AM ASIAN. The controversy is that Jin is portrayed as racist asian sterotype. Just because the sterotype is seen in good light doesn't make the racist notion NOT racist. The Devil Wears Prada 2's press tour was heavily done if not more emphasized when going through Asia. To streamline explanation, it's like when the tributes goes on tour to basically beg for favor towards their livelyhood during The Hunger Games. No matter what project; they need all the press, ads and attention they can get to maximaze the chances of you giving your money to them. Many films want to win the asian market's favor to maximize profit and will do anything to attain it. 



Some people said that it ain't that deep, most of those people being non-asian. I think that it's interesting that this is what was the line in the sand for what seems like a majority of light skinned asians to speak up. You're gonna speak up for what you relate to. The scene could have been done in other ways. Jin was self depricating and awkward, unfortunately similar into mirroring how Andy was when she was in her shoes in the first film, at the first sign of panic; listed her accolades of achievements and degrees. As a dark skinned asian, I'm use to not having representation and Crazy Rich Asians did me no favors by using just ANY asian they can get their hands on and it being one of the few films that a majority of white people find platable enough for their viewing pleasure, mostly while flying (it came out in 2018 and that shit is still on planes LOL good for them though). In turn every white person that's seen the film has used that film as a basis for how to treat me and how they think my people act like. Unfortunately being in this industry I won't escape this anytime soon. Also I don't know what yall really expect, the scripts are written by a white lady that adapts books to film. I think it's just an unfortunate product of them having the requirement to be like LOOK THIS CHARACTER IS JUST LIKE ANDY 20 YEARS AGO. IT'S JUST LIKE THE FIRST FILM.





The Devil Wears Prada (2006)