Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Paul Feig
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry
Golding, Michele Morrone, Elizabeth Perkins, Allison Janney
2018's A Simple Favor saw Paul Feig, a director best known for female-centred comedies
like Bridesmaids, The Heat and the Ghostbusters reboot, adapt a straight-faced mystery novel by author Darcey Bell. The result was an unmitigated disaster,
with Feig completely out of his depth in the territory of Hitchcock and de
Palma. It had a promising opening act, leaning into the comic chemistry of
its leading ladies Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick before taking an about
turn into hackneyed thriller territory, with a particular eye-rolling plot
twist.
This sequel dispenses with any pretence of being a serious thriller. On
paper that sounds like a wise move, but there's very little comedy on offer
here, and it unwisely keeps its leads apart for the bulk of the movie,
failing to learn from the mistake of its predecessor.
The first movie climaxed with a coda revealing that Kendrick's mommy
blogger Stephanie had become a private detective, having exposed Emily's
(Lively) faking of her own death by killing her twin sister. Another Simple
Favor picks up years later with Stephanie having just published a book
detailing the Emily case, and lo and behold, who turns up at her book launch
but Emily herself. Wait, isn't she in prison for murder? Well, she's been
let out on parole. How? Why? Shush. Somehow this comes as a shock to Stephanie, who seems
like she would have heard about the woman who is only, you know, the subject of her
bloody book getting an unlikely release from prison.
Presumably because Feig fancied an all expenses paid Mediterranean holiday,
the action relocates from suburban Connecticut to the island of Capri, where
Emily is to be wed to mafioso Dante (Michele Morrone). Emily invites
Stephanie, who figures why not travel to another country with the one person
on the planet who wants to cause her the most harm. Once in Capri, the
bodies start piling up and Stephanie is forced to put her sleuthing to work
as she tries to figure out if Emily is the killer or the target.
Inspired no doubt by the success of Kenneth Branagh's Agatha Christie
adaptations and Rian Johnson's Glass Onion mysteries, Another Simple Favor
is essentially an extended Murder She Wrote episode, though it takes the
entire length of an MSW episode for the plot to finally kick in. Feig and
screenwriters Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis spend an age
introducing a roster of eccentric characters who are largely defined by
their extravagant outfits (if nothing else, Feig's film might serve as porn
for fashionistas). Only Henry Golding as Emily's ex-husband Sean, now a
snarky drunk, makes any comic impact, but his screen time is sadly
short-lived. Kendrick and Lively briefly rekindle their Golden Globe hosting
audition shtick early on, only for the movie to keep them apart for most of
the running time.
If you thought the plot twist of A Simple Favor was hoary, you'll be
throwing rotten fruit at your TV when Another Simple Favor shows its hand.
The most memorable thing about the first movie was how it dropped a
revelation of incest which it proceeded to gloss over. The sequel is somehow
even more distasteful, with another disturbing case of incest, this time non-consensual, and a
subplot concerning a CSA ring, two subjects that have no right rearing their
ugly heads in such a lightweight comedy.
Another Simple Favor doesn't work as a thriller because it relies on
clichés and Feig is incapable of crafting tension or suspense. It doesn't
work as a comedy because despite boasting a talented cast well capable of delivering
comic performances, it's working from a script devoid of wit and overly reliant on
tiresome stereotypes like the Italian mobster, the gay best friend and the
sassy plus-size black woman. The only laugh in Another Simple Favor is the
unintentional one that arises when we flashback to Emily's birth, which
appears to take place in the 1960s. Just how old does Feig think Blake
Lively is?
Another Simple Favor is on Prime
Video from May 1st.
