The new sequel to The Devil Wears Prada intentionally sidelines romantic fireworks in favor of quieter emotional work, according to a review published this week by lifestyle writer Kristine Thomason. In her appraisal of the film seen over its premiere weekend, Thomason called the romance "underwhelming — and that's kind of the point," arguing the movie uses a subdued love story to make room for career-focused narratives and deepened female bonds.
Set roughly 20 years after Andy Sachs’ stint as Miranda Priestly’s assistant, the film finds Andy (Anne Hathaway) established as a confident newspaper journalist covering the kind of meaningful stories she longed to write in the original. Thomason highlights a moment in which Andy matter-of-factly tells a former colleague that she is "not married" and that "my kids are at a doctor's office on 85th. They're frozen eggs right now, but I like to think of them as my little ones, Siobhan and Esther." The line is presented casually in the film, the reviewer notes, neither a triumphal nor chastising statement — merely a facet of a woman living on her own terms.
The movie’s chief romantic thread involves a contractor named Peter, played by Patrick Brammall, whose courtship of Andy is described as sweet but incidental. Thomason praises small, believable touches — Peter reads Andy’s recent articles before their first date, and their early conversations are characterized by easy banter — but stresses the filmmakers never allow the relationship to dominate the narrative. When a flare-up of work stress prompts Andy to snap that her reporting "is actually meaningful," Peter responds by giving her space rather than escalating the conflict, a dynamic Thomason interprets as deliberately ordinary: he may be a lasting partner, or simply someone who brought her a period of companionship.
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That ordinariness is echoed in Miranda’s personal life as well. Thomason describes Miranda Priestly’s partner, played by Kenneth Branagh, as supportive and self-actualized — a marked contrast to the original film’s portrayal of Andy’s ex-boyfriend Nate, who many viewers remembered as unsympathetic to her ambitions. By presenting partners who are comfortable with their partners’ careers, the sequel reframes the earlier film’s binary of career versus home life and underlines the story’s broader interest in choices rather than prescriptions.
With romance decentered, Thomason argues, the sequel devotes more attention to friendships and mentorships. The evolving relationship between Andy and Emily (Emily Blunt) and the renewed, more reciprocal connection between Andy and Miranda receive significant screen time. A late, poignant backseat conversation between Andy and Miranda — a deliberate echo of the original’s carroom exchanges — centers on the cost that often accompanies success, a line of inquiry the reviewer found refreshingly frank about trade-offs rather than promising a facile "have it all" message.
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Thomason, a Southern California-based lifestyle writer and former editor at outlets including Women’s Health and mindbodygreen, also commended the film’s fashion, visual storytelling and its depiction of the precarious state of journalism. For her, the subdued romance is a strength: it allows the sequel to depict ambitious women in their 40s with nuance, showing single, childless characters and supportive relationships without moralizing — an approach she found particularly resonant as a journalist in her 30s.
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