Another Simple Favor review

ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR: 

ANNA KENDRICK, BLAKE LIVELY, AND CAPRI DAZZLE IN LESSER CAPER! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

MGM AND LIONSGATE (PRIME VIDEO)

Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick in Another Simple Favor

 

            Anna Kendrick (Scott Pilgrim VS the World, 50/50, Pitch Perfect trilogy) and Blake Lively (The Age of Adaline, The Shallows, It Ends with Us) are back as best frenemies, Stephanie and Emily in Another Simple Favor, the much anticipated sequel to Paul Feig’s (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy) 2018 dark comedy mystery, A Simple Favor. I loved the first Simple Favor and will go on record and say it’s my favorite film Feig directed (Who was mostly known for comedies like Bridesmaids at the time) with an intriguing plot filled with twists, dark humor, and powerhouse performances by Kendrick and Lively who alone make the movie. 

            Now we have the sequel that skipped a theatrical release and landed on Amazon Prime Video with Feig returning as director and Kendrick and Lively reprising their roles. I was skeptical when it was announced because the previous film was a pretty self-contained movie and didn’t know how it could be continued, but if it meant more Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively together then I’m all for it. 

            So, I put the movie on and… it’s alright. Apparently, this film is getting mixed reactions from critics and audiences seem to not like it very much and honestly, I don’t think it’s bad, but coming off of a stellar predecessor, this does feel like a significant downgrade by comparison despite a lot of enjoyable aspects of it. 

            The film is set five years after the first and follows single mother and vlogger, Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick) who is now a true crime novelist and wrote a book about her friendship with Emily Nelson. Suddenly, Emily (Lively) appears at Stephanie’s lecture and book signing and asks her to be her maid of honor at a wedding in Capri. 

            Despite the events of the last film, Stephanie agrees to come with her to Capri, but as expected people start getting killed and this vacation turns into a race to find the culprit who may or may not be Emily. 

            The film also stars Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians, The Gentlemen, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) reprising his role as Emily’s ex-husband Sean Townsend, Andrew Rannells (The Book of Mormon, Big Mouth, Invincible) reprising his role as Darren, Bashir Salahuddin (Marriage Story, Cyrano, Top Gun: Maverick) reprising his role as Detective Summerville, Elizabeth Perkins (Big, The Flintstones (1994), Cats & Dogs) replacing Jean Smart as Emily’s mother Margaret McLanden, Michele Morrone (365 Days trilogy, Subservience, The Housemaid) as Emily’s fiancé Dante Versano, Elena Sofia Ricci (Burro, Love Burns, Diamonds) as Dante’s mother Portia Versano, Allison Janney (American Beauty, Juno, I, Tonya) as Aunt Linda McLanden, Alex Newell (Glee, Geography Club, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist) as Vicky, and Taylor Ortega (Kim Possible (2019)) as Agent Irene Walker. 

            Overall, Another Simple Favor is a perfectly fine continuation of the story with dazzling scenery of Capri and the equally dazzling reunion of Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, but it lacks a lot of intrigue and dry wit of the first thus making it a mostly standard whodunnit. 

            The first film was a legit good mystery because it wasn’t made clear whether Blake Lively’s Emily simply disappeared or died until Anna Kendrick’s Stephanie started investigating it to find out the truth. It kept you on your toes throughout and shocked you when the twist of Emily killing her sister in order to stage her own death was revealed. 

            This one, while it definitely had a twist I didn’t see coming felt more like they were trying to do what Kenneth Branagh did with his Murder on the Orient Express movies or Rian Johnson’s Knives Out films where the mystery is simply who is committing the murders and that isn’t as fun compared to the first. The movie is more than watchable, but it feels cheapened in that regard sadly. 

            I also thought the comedy wasn’t quite as snappy as in the previous film, that’s not to say there aren’t any funny moments in this, there are and the best ones come from the cast’s line deliveries. But then, you have some of the side characters trying to go bombastic with a joke or this really drawn out scene with Anna Kendrick getting high off of truth serum that’s more awkward than it is funny and Kendrick is a legitimately funny actress. 

            Where the movie does shine however is the chemistry between Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, even in a lesser sequel they work together so wonderfully. I love watching and listening to them interact with each other where you have the normal and restrained single mother in Kendrick’s Stephanie and the unhinged, vulgar, and suspicious Lively’s Emily, polar opposites that probably shouldn’t be together yet they work remarkably well. 

            The movie also has gorgeous shots of Capri to the point where I wish this movie wasn’t dumped on streaming because a lot of these shots would have looked spectacular on a movie theater screen. Even though I didn’t fully get into this movie, I was marveling at it from a cinematography standpoint and makes me want to visit Capri again because of how beautifully shot it was here. 

            Another Simple Favor can’t quite recapture what made A Simple Favor a brilliant and spine-tingling mystery, but Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively’s incredible onscreen chemistry and a few solid laughs and twists make it an entertaining enough second caper. Nothing about it really screams “Don’t watch it” because there are a lot of impressive things about it and if you enjoyed the first one (like me) and want to see what happens next, put it on and enjoy the glamor and blood.