The Devil Wears Prada 2

Twenty years ago, there was a movie released in theaters called The Devil Wears Prada, a film I did not see until the DailyView in 2021. Now, a legacy sequel has been released with most of the important parts returning to the screen. This included four of the main actors as well as the director and writer of the first film.

Director David Frankel and co-writers Aline Brosh McKenna and Lauren Weisberger are back together with actors Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci is The Devil Wears Prada 2.

I liked the first film. I found it to be a fun watch. I went into the sequel with some apprehension. I had heard a couple of down reviews plus sequels over twenty years after the original came out rarely have a high success rate.

However, I found the film to be an entertaining movie with some powerhouse actors elevating what could have been a floundering film. It is far from perfect of a movie. It is overly long and the story itself is a touch iffy at times, but I still found myself engaged by the combo of the actors playing their iconic characters.

Meryl Streep was the best of the quartet in my opinion. She brought more humanity to the “Devil,” Miranda Priestly, the fashion icon who was the basic antagonist of the first film. In the sequel, Miranda was much more like a co-protagonist with Anne Hathaway’s Andy.

Another standout of the cast was Stanley Tucci, as Nigel felt like the heart of the film. Tucci played him with such a kindness and a soft spot that when the film once hinted some anger from him, I was very unhappy. Emily Blunt’s character, Emily, was my least favorite of the four of them as she really seemed to be a caricature of a person and not a real live one, though I did enjoy several of her scenes with Hathaway.

In the end, I liked this sequel. I do not think it was as good as the original, but it was much better than I had anticipated and Meryl Streep is still the best out there.

3.4 stars

Have You Seen Andy? (2007)

January 14

Today’s documentary in the 2025 Genre-ary was a tough one to watch.

According to IMDB, “”Have You Seen Andy?” is the personal story of a childhood friendship abruptly ended by the tragic abduction of a young boy. On a hot summer day in August 1976, ten year-old Andy Puglisi was playing along with dozens of other children at the Higgins Memorial Pool in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Then suddenly, he disappeared. Twenty-two years later, filmmaker Melanie Perkins, Andy’s childhood friend, begins her search for answers in this feature-length documentary.”

For someone who has spent most of his adult life working with kids, this doc about the missing 10-year old boy dealt with the possibility that he was taken by and killed by a pedophile who had been stalking kids for some time. Using a story of needing help finding his missing dog, Wayne Chapman would be the predator that the doc’s filmmaker, Melanie Perkins believed was at fault.

Shocking events that seemed to occur all helped prevent this case to be solved. The story of a bloody sock that was found in Chapman’s car that matched the sock that Andy had been wearing were taken for evidence and lost. There is no knowledge of where the sock went. There are unbelievable moments such as this that are littered through the doc.

There were also leads that turned into disappointments that piled up with this case. All the while being made all the worse with some of the beautiful pictures and home movies of Andy and his happy life.

Honestly, this doc was a labor of love from a friend looking for closure. Sadly, it has never come. Chapman died in 2021, after being released from prison.

I have a pit in my gut after watching this film. It was a painful story that is just too common in our world.