With A Simple Favour, Paul Feig drastically changed the course of his career after a string of energetic, female-led comedies allowed him to handbrake turn into something noticeably different. While his stint repeatedly putting Melissa McCarthy in progressively more humiliating scenarios were mostly fun, A Simple Favour instead saw him trying a mystery thriller on for size that blended scandal, intrigue and a plot that played like Gone Girl, only way more camp. In fact, while all the murder, twists and fake-outs were fun, arguably the standout aspect of the film was watching Blake Lively’s conniving con artist and Anna Kendrick’s nice as pie vloger trade razor sharp barbs as they tried to out maneuver one another.
Well, regardless of how unlikely it seems, they’re both back for Another Simple Favour, and Feig has obviously sweetened the deal to return by setting the sequel on the absurdly picturesque island of Capri in Italy. But are there any new stories to be told here, or are the filmmakers merely reheating old leftovers which scoring a cheeky holiday at Amazon’s expense?
Five years after the events of the first film, we find Stephanie Smothers now a famous, true crime vlogger who not only has managed to bring some criminals to justice thanks to her amateur sleuthing, but has written a book about her misadventures with murdering con artist Emily Nelson. However, while all this is admittedly impressive, the book isn’t selling quite as well as it should due to Stephanie not posting to her vlog as much after her last case violently went a bit south. However, she’s quickly picked out of her trauma-fueled slump by the shock return of Emily, who first explains that she’s filing an appeal and then offers an incredibly questionable invite to be her maid of honor at her upcoming nuptials that are about to be held in Capri, Italy. While Stephanie is fairly certain that this could be some extravagant plan to get even with her for sending her frenemy to jail, the her agent’s persuasion and Emily’s threats to hit her with a lawsuit entice the vlogger to take a chance and go along.
Once there, it seems that the wedding of the decade has a whole bunch of bad feelings lurking under the surface. Obviously there’s history between Stephanie and Emily, but beyond that, Emily’s bitter, ex-husband Sean seems to be actively trying to drain the bar dry; there’s seems to be a fair bit of animosity between Emily and her future mother in law; and it all reaches its peak when, in an act of spite, Emily’s gin-sodden, hateful mother is invited which only adds to the chaos further. Even more alarming is that Emily’s fiance, Dante Versano, seems to be a member of the mafia, which certainly doesn’t make Stephanie feel particularly safe. But when a string of deaths start occuring, Stephanie’s detective skills slowly grind back into action as she tries to get the the bottom of all the weirdness.
Despite the fact that both Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively got to fully exercise their ability to deliver cutting, devestating one-liners for most of the film, the majority of A Simple Favour was admirably serious as it popped pulp crime mysteries and flawless fashions into a martini shaker and went to work. In fact, it was only in its final act that Paul Feig dropped the thriller pretence and went for dark laughs as the outlandish plot gradually unravelled itself. However, with Another Simple Favour, we find Feig back to being in something of a chipper mood as the sequel ditches a lot of the serious build up of the original and plunges in high heels-first by having everything that transpires occur under a non-stop cloud of wisecrakes and razor-sharp snark. It almost resembles the shift in tone between the first two Benoit Blanc movies where Knives Out was more controlled and measured, but Glass Onion was far looser and sillier. As a result, Another Simple Favour not only can barely hide the fact that it’s objectively ludicrous, it doesn’t look like it’s trying particularly hard either and is content to let the entire enterprise get carried by both of its leads and theridiculous complexity of its central mystery.
However, Feig seems to be very clear on what his priorities are and that’s chiefly to plonk it’s unnaturally attractive cast in even more attractive surroundings and have them trade verbal roundhouses like abnormally fashionable Rock-Em Sock-Em Robots for two hours. To the director’s credit, it mostly works too as he fully plays up the innate mistrust that surrounds Lively’s scheming con artist like a murderous musk. Has she truly grown fond of the diminutive figure who managed to out-think her and send her to jail (temporarily), or does she really have some sort of vicious payback in store? To be fair, watching this part of the movie play out ends up providing the most fun moments by far as they each test each other’s armour (and patience) with waves of stinging insults and roasts that don’t hold anything back. It seems that Feig and his leads are eager to bring back the devestating put downs usually hurled at people by the likes of Bette Davis in her spiteful prime and it’s one of those movies where everyone has bottomless reserves of brutal comebacks as tea is spilt everywhere.
However, while the rest of the film is perky and light on its feet, the movie is less successful when it’s actually trying to keep it’s deliberately entwined plot moving. In fact, as involved as the first film was (we’re talking murdered twins, faked deaths and bizarre childhoods), the sequel seems happy to take all of what we thought we knew and just make even messier – so a refresher of the original may probably be advisable unless you want to be completely lost. Again, while the first movie seemed to treat all this with a certain sense of decorum, Feig seems to be using A Simple Favour’s own sequel to take the piss out of it. Still, at least that means that a wealth of actors such as Taylor Ortega, Elizabeth Perkins, Allison Janney and Alex Newell get to chew the scenery while soaking up the sunshine and even the first film’s Henry Golding returns to get blitzed and have a suspiciously long shower scene.
Anyone looking for even a semi-serious followup to the partially serious original may be distracted at how willfully silly Another Simple Favour strives to be, and there’s a fair chance that those looking for a more thriller-esque outing may be turned away by the weapons grade glibness. Whole sub-plots, such as a the trauma caused by the suicide of one of Stephanie’s earlier suspects and Ortega’s lax FBI agent, get swept under the rug at a moments notice with barely a second glance However, with gorgeous surroundings, snazzy fashions, an unhinged plot and Kendrick and Lively on top bitchy form, you can’t argue that the film isn’t dull, even if it proves to be as memorable as way too many dry martinis…
It’s not trying to do anything other than look pretty and make you laugh/gasp when the tea (and blood) get spilled, but when Another Simple Favour focuses entirely on that, it works just fine. However, if the prospect of someone asking for a third, not-so simple, favour is made a reality, maybe some raised stakes wouldn’t be too much to ask for…
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