Here’s a film that shot itself in the foot. We loved A Simple Favor enough to promote a sequel. OK, I get that. We did. There were some problems being that the first film ended with one of the characters in A LOT of jail, but there are ways of writing around that.
This wasn’t one of them. And the sad part is that Another Simple Favor started out well enough to get around the problematic conclusion … until it devolved into a “WTF?!” movie. And there’s no better way of putting that.
Let’s backtrack, shall we:
We loved A Simple Favor. We loved it for both style and message. Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) was an everywoman: mother, blogger, survivor, realist, a study in modesty. Emily (Blake Lively) was who everywoman wants to be: sexy, cool, fashionable, sharp, acid-tongued, a-moral, free, the poster child for “I don’t give a f*** and I’m a star anyway.” No matter the outcome, the plot was always going to be Stephanie sucked into Emily’s aura, and the conflict was always going to be Stephanie (and the rest of us) trying to decide where she draws the line. How a-moral is a-moral enough for “I want to be you” to become “oh, maybe not.”
Even if we’d never seen evidence of Emily’s crimes, that was always going to be the plot. And it’s a winning one; it’s the female version of selling your soul to the Devil.
So Another Simple Favor had two big problems going in: How do we get these two together again when Stephanie knows full well what Emily is and, consequently, how do we set up their personality dynamic again when Stephanie has added a strong dose of cynicism to hers?
Stephanie wrote a book about being friends with Emily. It’s not selling, but then Emily-who ought to be in jail- shows up at a book signing. While Emily’s message is threatening, her delivery and familiarity is that of 
silky, snake-charmer. Ah, yes, this is what we came for – show us how smooth one has to be to beat a murder charge and resurrect a dead friendship.
Emily is getting married in Italy to a crime family figure, one that has bankrolled Emily’s way out of jail. Um … ok? And now Emily is blackmailing Stephanie to go along with it. We are all with Stephanie here: This looks wrong. This feels wrong. Is there any way I can get out of it? Stephanie decides “no,” where most of us would have chosen something else. But then we wouldn’t have been treated to the latest episode of “White Lotus” or whatever hotel murder mystery formula we love these days.
I could go with the film this far. It’s hard not to love Anna Kendrick, and there is no denying the chemistry she has with Blake Lively; they have a great dynamic, even when we are all skeptical for good reason. But then this film got so stupid, I want to give away the idiot plot and never look back.
I won’t. But daaaaaaammmmnnnn.
And I can’t stress this enough: I loved A Simple Favor. I never thought jack of Blake Lively until I saw that film. She and Anna Kendrick are so wonderful, they truly deserved a sequel. I really, really wish this hadn’t been that sequel. Cuz now I can pretty much guarantee there ain’t gonna be a third and it is all because some moron greenlit this awful script.
A mother with a video blog
Idolizes another in amorous fog
It worked once before
So why not some more?
Oh GOD, this sequel is a dog
Rated R, 120 Minutes
Director: Paul Feig
Writer: Darcey Bell, Jessica Sharzer, Laeta Kalogridis
Genre: WTF?!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: You have to love these characters enough to ignore when a bad plot destroys them
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Anyone capable of an eyeroll
