Another Simple Favor Is So Fun, Until It Gets So Dumb

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First things first, let’s tackle the significant aspects: In the movie “Another Simple Favor,” Blake Lively makes a striking entrance in a suit, which is fitting given her role in the 2018 film “A Simple Favor.” She appears at a school pickup, creating quite a stir in an upscale suburban environment reminiscent of a more intriguing movie. However, this time, her heels are adorned with spiked hardware, suggesting that her character, Emily Nelson, has had to fortify herself during her absence. The outfit is primarily horizontal gray and white stripes, with a jingling chain belt added for flair as she enters the Warfield, Connecticut bookstore where Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) is holding a book reading. This costume seems to echo the start of the first film, but it also serves as a chic prison uniform-inspired look for a character who could be imprisoned for murdering her father and twin sister, shooting her husband, Sean (Henry Golding), and planning to kill Stephanie herself. Yet, here she is, mysteriously free.

The delight of “A Simple Favor,” directed by Paul Feig (who is back for the sequel) and based on a novel by Darcey Bell, lies in its unexpected strangeness, powered by undercurrents that transformed what could have been a typical “Gone Girl”-esque thriller into something less predictable. Initially, it follows the story of a solitary mommy blogger who forms an unusual bond with a stylish town outsider. However, when the latter inexplicably disappears, leaving her son and husband behind, she is entrusted to her friend’s care on screen. From the start, both Emily and Stephanie appear to be unsettled characters. Emily, with her prim sweaters and frozen smile, presents as a highly strung supermom who seemed capable of causing harm before she decided to take up detective work while assuming control over her friend’s life. (The film effectively showcases Kendrick’s manic side.) Stephanie, on the other hand, comes across more like a celebrity guest than a woman feeling suffocated in a small town after a more vibrant urban existence. Her eccentric outfits suggest costumes, and her entire life appears as if it could be abandoned at any moment – which, of course, she does. If the narrative explores a toxic suburban friendship, the movie itself delves into the unsettling encounter of two psychosexual soulmates.

In another take, the film Another Simple Favor, which debuted at SXSW Film Festival on Friday and will stream on Prime Video starting May 1st, seamlessly builds upon all the elements that made its predecessor so enjoyable. The character Stephanie, who’s now a full-time true-crime influencer, finds herself mysteriously absent from social media as her book about Emily is being published, following a case that took a turn for the worse. When Emily, fresh out of jail (the movie casually explains this with a reference to “high-powered lawyers”), pops up at a bookstore to announce her upcoming Italian wedding and request Stephanie as her maid of honor, both characters acknowledge the absurdity of the situation, much like the audience does. However, they also know that Stephanie will ultimately agree to Emily’s request, even before Emily subtly threatens legal action for unauthorized use of her likeness. Stephanie is drawn to Emily not only for the content potential but because Emily is the one person who truly comprehends Stephanie. “You were never nice,” Stephanie tells Emily, the woman who sent her to prison. “You were just afraid to be mean.

The wedding occurs on the stunningly picturesque island of Capri, with the groom being Dante Versano, a wealthy and macho mafioso (portrayed by Michele Morrone from the widely debated 365 Days series). The build-up to the ceremony is engaging, not just due to the opulent setting that perfectly complements Emily’s outfits, but because the characters openly exchange crass, witty insults about the absurdity of the events. Jessica Sharzer, who wrote the original script, collaborates with Laeta Kalogridis for this sequel. As Sean is court-ordered to escort his and Emily’s son Nicky (Ian Ho) to the wedding, he gets drunk and tells Emily that her “huge vagina” was like having sex during a storm in a windsock. Unperturbed, Emily introduces Sean to Dante as her “baby mama.” Dante’s mother, Portia (Elena Sofia Ricci), despises Emily so much that she invites her estranged mother Margaret (Elizabeth Perkins, replacing Jean Smart) and a random aunt, Linda (Allison Janney), to the rehearsal dinner. The atmosphere is reminiscent of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? meets a drag show, making it an enjoyable spectacle until people start dying, and the plot shifts towards mystery and intrigue.

In simpler terms, it seems illogical for the police and the Versano family to suspect Stephanie in Dante’s death, given the information presented at the start of the movie. However, as the story progresses, especially in the second half, it becomes increasingly confusing and disjointed, deviating from its initial logic to introduce multiple murders, a clumsy FBI agent, and references to a casual comment made earlier in the film. The movie feels more like a campy spectacle than a subversive thriller, losing its tension along the way. Despite the intriguing dynamic between Emily and Stephanie, their relationship lacks significance towards the end of the film, as nothing seems to matter anymore. However, Kendrick and Lively share a strong on-screen chemistry that suggests they genuinely like each other, but this only matters when their circumstances are meaningful, which unfortunately is not the case in “Another Simple Favor” by the end.

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2025-03-08 22:57