A Simple Favour/Another Simple Favour Review

A Simple Favour begins by dropping you into your typical suburban hellscape of school runs, bitchy parents with too much time on their hands, and social media. Smack dab right in the middle of all this is Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick), the super mum. Or the super annoying mum, depending on who you ask. When it comes to parenting, it seems like there is nothing Stephanie cannot do. She’s polite, softly spoken, and able to defuse pretty much any situation in a non-confrontational manner. In fact, she’s so good she even has her own vlog, in which she shares all kinds of tips on how to be a parent and make it out alive.

All of which makes her befriending of the unabashed and slightly foul-mouthed Emily (Blake Lively) all the more amusing. There isn’t a universe in which they should be friends. And yet, a curious bond develops between the two of them over martini-fuelled playdates. So it’s not really surprising that when Emily disappears, Stephanie would not only look after her family, but also try to figure out what happened to her new-found friend.

Put simply, this is a true crime podcaster’s dream; a missing woman, a criminal conspiracy, and a whole lot of dodgy goings on in this beautiful suburban neighbourhood. All shiny and sparkly on the surface, but there’s something else entirely going on underneath, and it’s the same with the characters. So much so that it raises questions about whether we can ever truly know a person. The movie seems to suggest you can, as long as said person disappears. Which, thankfully for us, is exactly what happens here. While Stephanie can be annoyingly upbeat and hilariously awkward, Emily is more than a little obnoxious, not to mention manipulative. But this is merely who they are on the surface, and it is as much a pleasure unravelling who these women are, as it is figuring out the mystery that connects them.

As we dig into the lives of Stephanie, Emily, and her husband, Paul (Henry Golding), we discover a situation that is rather messy – it always is when people are concerned – and at times, more than a little alarming. However, the more you dig, the stranger and more intriguing the mystery gets. All of which is complemented by some stellar performances. So you spend the whole movie wondering who you can trust – there are even times when you find yourself questioning the outwardly lovely Stephanie’s actions. But Director Paul Feig is also a master at comedy, and with A Simple Favour he manages to find the right balance between mystery and laughs. Especially when it comes to Stephanie’s investigation into Emily’s disappearance, as well as some of her other activities. Watch out for a scene in which Emily takes a certain painting for a drive

The way Stephanie digs into the strangely secretive Emily’s background is amusingly amateurish, and yet shows some real ingenuity as well – it turns out there really is nothing this woman cannot do. This of course leads her down some rather curious paths, and the people she encounters down those paths are even more curious. Like Jean Smart’s Margaret McLanden, a woman with a dodgy memory and a bit of a drinking problem, or Rupert Friend as Emily’s flamboyant boss, or even Bashir Salahuddin’s Detective Summerville, a police officer who finds this whole situation a little amusing. All of these actors have reasonably small roles, and in any other film they could be almost forgettable, but Smart, Friend and Salahuddin deliver such scene-stealing performances they actually make A Simple Favour more of a thrill. In those moments Feig is able to dial up the tension while he’s making you laugh, so that before you know it you’re on tenterhooks… even when the cause is a black dress. And all this delightful tension boils over in a beatiful finale that – much like the rest of the film – is as amusing as it is intriguing.

I haven’t seen A Simple Favour since it was first in cinemas back in 2018, and it was a lot of fun to revisit.

Which brings us to the long-awaited sequel. When I first heard that Another Simple Favour was headed straight to Amazon Prime Video I was a tad disappointed. Based on the strength of the first movie I felt it deserved a cinematic release. Unfortunately I didn’t feel the same way after I actually saw it.

The movie begins in much the same way as its predecessor, with this odd relationship between two people who would never normally be friends drawing you in. Not to mention the fact that Emily is mysteriously out of jail while her conviction is on appeal, she’s somehow allowed to leave the country, and she’s getting married to some Italian bloke. Still, nice of her to invite her best friend and her ex-husband – the two people who put her in jail – to her wedding. Of course, it isn’t long before a murder or two break up the festivities, and who better to solve it than the great vlogger and amateur detective; Stephanie Smothers?

Another Simple Favour brings even more glitz and glamour to the lives of our favourite crime-fighting vlogger and her friend/nemesis, as we travel to the island of Capri. The movie does a good job of drawing you back into these crazy lives and the madness that usually surrounds them, and it does at least point out that it doesn’t matter how great a parent you are, once your kid is a teenager, you’re completely screwed. Trouble is; it’s clearly getting by on the charm of the original, without doing anything really new. Which is probably why it’s not as good at keeping you guessing. In fact, it’s not long before it becomes rather predictable. That’s not to say it doesn’t have a few surprises up its sleeve, but for the most it’s a disappointingly bland follow-up, despite its colourful overabundance of style.

Lively and Kendrick do at least continue to have great chemistry, and Henry Golding is funny as the increasingly inebriated ex-husband. While Allison Janney and Elizabeth Perkins steal the show somewhat, as members of Emily’s estranged family. Perkins takes over the role of Margaret from Jean Smart – a change that is joked about – and is clearly having a lot of fun with the role, as we find her in a much more sauced and unhinged state. All of which makes her a bundle of joy for Janney’s Aunt Linda, as she is now responsible for caring for dear old Margaret. And there is some laughs to be had with watching the McLanden clan attempt to ingratiate themselves with Emily’s new husband – played with testosterone-fuelled menace by Michele Morrone – and his “family”. It’s just that this new family drama is a little too on the nose, unlike last time, so it lacks intrigue.

It doesn’t really help that by the time Stephanie gets around to investigating this deadly wedding, it’s already painfully obvious what’s going on. Even the way she goes about investigating isn’t as clever or fun, and some of the people she encounters along the way aren’t funny like they’re supposed to be, they’re just annoying. All the while the movie is trying to push our two leading ladies back together, despite their history. This, of course, is supposed to make Emily more likeable as we head into a rather underwhelming and typically telegraphed finale.