Best frenemies forever: Another Simple Favor (now streaming on Amazon Prime Video) re-teams Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick for the sequel to A Simple Favor, the black-comedy mystery-thriller that was a modest theatrical hit in 2018 before growing its cult following with big numbers on ye olde streaming platforms – people sure seemed to like its fizzy performances, dazzling costumes and dizzying twists. So it (mostly) makes sense that the follow-up debuts in our living rooms, with Paul Feig again directing, bringing back key collaborators (screenwriter Jessica Sharzer, supporting star Henry Golding) and adding a few new faces (Allison Janney, Michele Morrone, Elizabeth Perkins subbing for Jean Smart’s role). But as is always the case with sequels, you gotta wonder if lightning will strike twice.
The Gist: WARNING: Another Simple Favor opens with a pointless framing technique where Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick) tells her many livestream followers that she’s under house arrest in lovely Capri, Italy. We’ll get to why she’s under house arrest at about two-thirds the way through the movie, so let’s flash back to some days prior and work our way back to this plot point slowly enough that you’ll almost forget the framing bit happened in the first place. You may recall from the first Favor that Stephanie was a mommy blogger/vlogger who became a true crime blogger/vlogger after her fellow mother-of-a-young-son Emily (Lively) went missing. No spoilers on that if you’re not caught up, but suffice to say, enough happened for Stephanie to turn those nutty events into a popular true crime book – a popular true crime book that Stephanie’s agent Vicky (Alex Newell) says “could really use a sequel.” And here I must note how this line is not in fact the words of a character, but those of the screenwriter justifying the movie’s existence with a gentle nudge and wink.
So it’s with perfect timing that Emily strolls into Stephanie’s book signing. Interesting, because she should be in prison for murder. But here she is, totally free, wearing horizontal black-and-white stripes on a glorious pantsuit with some glittery chains on her hips as accoutrements. Fashion! Does she want revenge for all the what-happeneds of the first movie? Nope. Why? Don’t ask that question, please. What Emily wants is to have her old pal Stephanie be her maid of honor. All that stuff where Stephanie slept with Emily’s husband Sean (Golding) and being a key figure in her incarceration? Water under the bridge, I guess. Emily’s getting married to a sexy hunk of Italian beef named Dante Versano (Morrone, of 365 Days fame), who just so happens to be a mafia don with enough lawyerly muscle in his employ to spring his sweetie from the clink. Seems plausible.
Stephanie agrees to participate in the nuptials, shuttles her son to sleepaway camp and joins the wedding party on Dante’s private jet headed for Capri, and if this doesn’t seem plausible, well, be comforted by how the screenplay acknowledges that by having one character say “This is weird,” followed by another character saying, “Just go with it,” which is essentially instructions for us, the audience, who must now accept all of this as farce. Which is fine, because farce can be fun, remember. The wedding is complicated by multiple factors – dueling mob families being a big one, and blood families being an even bigger one. The screenplay crowbars Emily’s angry, frequently drunk ex Sean into the plot (he has to accompany their son to the wedding), and stirs in Emily’s disapproving mobbed-up mother-in-law (Elena Sofia Ricci) as well as her own mother (Perkins), seemingly in the beginning stages of dementia, and wacky-ass aunt (Janney). Again, what the hell is Stephanie doing here? All will be revealed, but not before the first body drops, or the revelation of Lively’s first dozen or so extravagantly impractical outfits. And it must be noted that the train of Emily’s gruesomely gorgeous wedding dress is a specific shade of red, as if it had been dragged through blood. Fashion! Better yet, symbolism!
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Considering how Another Simple Favor features characters who are clever as heck and exquisitely dressed and exchanging snappy banter, and really don’t want to be at a destination wedding in a gorgeous locale, and find themselves in a ramshackle whodunit, it reminded me of Anyone But You crossed with Knives Out as directed by an AI facsimile of Steven Soderbergh.
Performance Worth Watching: Does it go without saying that Lively and Kendrick make this motorboat go? It does. So let’s shift this honor to the wittiest scene thief in the sprawling cast: Initially it seemed like Taylor Ortega as a moronic FBI agent would earn the accolade, but ultimately it goes to Perkins as the drunken/confused/unhinged character who has no function beyond drawing out some big laughs.
Memorable Dialogue: Stephanie’s pre-wedding advice for Emily: “We’ve all seen The Godfather – it doesn’t work out for Diane Keaton.”
Sex and Skin: Significant screen time for Golding’s unclothed gluteus.
Our Take: Feig knows exactly what he has here – a just-fine screenplay, and a cast with the spark and timing to significantly elevate it. He’s also aware that Another Simple Favor exists not to make sense, but to stage scenes that position his actors for comedic success: Kendrick loopy on truth serum, or giving a bluntly worded wedding-reception toast. Janney trying to tame Perkins’ lunacy. Lively gliding through every scene so coyly, it’s as if her performance is coated with a frothy mixture of WD-40 and K-Y Jelly. Golding, drunk in the shower and unsuccessfully attempting to wrist one out. You’re more likely to remember these moments than what happens in the actual plot, which ultimately doesn’t matter whatsoever, and that’s a good thing. Anyone else think that plots are wildly overrated?
Whether the film has as much pizzazz as its predecessor is highly debatable, though. The first Favor was more tightly plotted and timely in its presentation of Relevant Things; mommy bloggers and true crime, and therefore critical spoofs of such, have cycled out of the zeitgeist, and stories about the complications of motherhood and adult-female friendships are increasingly common. So the sequel pretty much ditches those Things and leans into silliness, especially with some of these twists, which range from superbly, stupidly soapy to I-can’t-believe-they-went-there icky. But again, none of it is to be taken seriously, even the couple of bits that make us wince in horror, and remind us that a movie in which we laugh a lot despite the omnipresent looming spectre of death is a black comedy.
I’m not sure Feig always achieves the tonal balance the material demands, but when Lively and Kendrick are cruising, the point seems moot. An argument could be made that they’re among the funniest duos in the current cinema, especially when they hold back a little and communicate with their eyes and body language, playing in the gray area between slapstick and snappy banter. They’re so great together that more of them, even in a lesser movie, is still a hell of a lot of fun.
Our Call: Diminishing returns? Inevitably. But Another Simple Favor inspires enough laughter to render it a success. STREAM IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.