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Review: “Another Simple Favor” (2025) Amazon MGM Studios

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I love camp-y and bonkers type films. And let me tell you, “ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR” gave this to me, and so much more. But before I delve really into it, a little of the basics on the film whose set was surrounded by very public controversy.

“ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR” is the second part of a story of a famous author/influencer who gets into trouble yet again. We start a few years after the events of the first part where we find Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick), is now an author and also dabbles in solving criminal cases. She has even written a book about her experience of getting involved in the disappearance and fake death of her ex-BFF Emily Nelson (Blake Lively). Sadly, her book is not doing well, as intended and at a book-reading session, a surprise guest arrives. None other than the famous Emily. Turns out, she was in prison and then suddenly released, and yes, we do find out why.

While there to essentially clock Stephanie about everything she’s done, she also informs Stephanie that she’s getting married to Dante Versano (Michele Morrone), a stunning Italian man from a questionable family. She also asks for another favour – she asks Emily to be her maid of honour at her wedding in Capri. With some back n forth going on, eventually, Stephanie reluctantly agrees to join her. At the wedding venue, Stephanie learns that Sean (Henry Golding), Emily’s ex-husband, is also invited along with a few surprise ‘guests’ Emily’s mother, Margaret McLinden (Elizabeth Perkins), and her aunt Linda McLinden (Allison Janney). Dante’s mother Portia (Elena Sofia Ricci), is also there and very vocally apparent in her dislike of Emily. The situation is volatile and on top of it, a murder takes place on the island. What happens next, well that’s your wild ride to watch and makes up the rest of the film.

Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis‘s story is full of twists and turns. Paul Feig‘s direction is effective. He tries his best to make sure that the plot points of the first part are understood in the sequel. Hence, the electrifying chemistry between the two female leads and the sassy exchange of words between them are present in abundance. The tension that arises at the wedding also keeps the interest going. There is more than one major plot twist in the second half which will not just be unexpected, one of them will boggle the mind. The ;camp’ of the film is over the top this time around. The first one, had some, but this time, CAMP is taken to a whole nother level, not just in plot, but in wardrobe as well, which is done superbly by Renee Ehrlich Kalfus, whose costumes are striking and will be talked about for sure come awards time. They are on a whole other level. Blake Lively, who continally stuns at the Met Gala, well here, it is like she is doing Met Gala after Met Gala after Met Gala here. It’s wonderful. Simply wonderful.

Anna Kendrick, as per usual, delivers another entertaining performance. Her and Lively play off each other so well in this series. This time however, her character has evolved as what has happened in her life has changed it dramatically. Yet, she still has that bit of naivity and this balance has been nicely done by Anna in her act. Lively, as expected, is fiery yet again. She keeps her act mysterious and she does full justice to her part. Henry Golding dominates his role as Sean Townsend, despite limited screen time, gives it all he’s got. And he’s got a lot to ‘show’ you! Elizabeth Perkins, is my scene stealer of the film. Again, a smaller role, but oh-so-juicy here. Allison Janney and Elena Sofia Ricci lend support in their more motherly, matronly roles, but with spice of course. Michele Morrone! I mean whoa! Looks alone don’t get you through a role, and he proves he has both looks and chops. Alex Newell (Vicky), is back as Stephanie’s assistant. While she’s funny again, she doesn’t have as much layers to her here. But still, leaves a mark. Ian Ho (Nicky), does his fair shake as Emily & Sean’s son, but he does get ignored a bit during a scene pretty much all about him. Andrew Rannells (Darren), Bashir Salahuddin (Detective Summerville), Lorenzo de Moor (Matteo), Max Malatesta (Detective Antonio Lucchese) and Taylor Ortega (Agent Irene Walker), all add background flair to make things work in the background. A specail shoutout to Ortega as she was so damn funny at points. Great dark comedic relief.

On the whole, ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR benefits from an intriguing script and a series of unexpected twists. Is it perfect? No. It’s not. But if you want to have some wild fun, with insane fashion, this is your movie. It has it’s cliches’ of course, but it’s appeal is undeniable.

Grade: C+

“ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR” IS NOW STREAMING IN THE US ON AMAZON PRIME

Review Screening: Monday, April 28, 2025 ~ Courtesy of Ginsberg/Libby PR

Comedy, Drama, Movie Reviews, Mystery

Review: “A Simple Favor” – or is it simply an unfavorable one (2018) Lionsgate

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First things first, “A Simple Favor” is not really a mystery film, though it tries very hard, it seemed almost a spoof of a mystery. As much as the marketing would have you believe, and for those looking for the next Gone Girl or Girl on The Train, you might want to continue your search. The story here is far-fetched, overcooked and unravels in such a hasty-type way that it’s hard to treat much of it seriously. Director Paul Feig (best known for his comedy), is seemingly aware of the story’s inherent ridiculousness and keeps the film light and easily digestible, but the result is a weird hybrid of a comedy-mystery that doesn’t hit home with either genre completely and comes off spoof-like as there are whole bricks of time that you aren’t sure if a certain part was meant to be funny or dramatic, so the laughs are small.

The film, based on the novel by Darcey Bell, gives us neurotic Mommy Vlogger Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick,) a widowed mother to a young son. Her goody two-shoes personality makes her pariah amongst the other parents by being so overly perky that the sneers and snark given behind her back are viciou,s but quite true. But she’s also so desperate for human connection that she’s willing to befriend Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), the martini-guzzling fashion industry executive who is not exactly a hands-on mother to her son. We soon learn that martinis and playdates shouldn’t be mixed. Before long they become best friends, at least in Stephanie’s mind they are and when Emily disappears, Stephanie steps out of her shell to solve the mystery via her vlog. I kid you not.

Kendrick’s role is attuned to her goofy charms, though she always comes off as being more of a teenager than an adult. While on the other hand, Lively convincingly embodies the enigmatic nature of her character in a crucial supporting role. And then we have Henry Golding, who hot off his Crazy Rich Asians role, gets the rough end of the deal playing Emily’s husband Sean, a character who, while not entirely likeable, is cruelly used and manipulated by the two females throughout the film. Though I will say, his roles were so similarly played to me as in, not a huge range in the difference of the two characters.

To be honest, the only consistency between all the characters is that none of them are particularly likeable. They each make questionable decisions, are gratingly self-centered and become increasingly obnoxious as the film progresses with its dubious twists. By the end, you’ll be hard pressed to care about any of them. This is no more evident than in the film’s tacked on “where are they now?’ postscript that feels completely unnecessary and ill informed in assuming audiences care enough about the characters to know where they end up.

On the upside, Feig, who is more proficient in making fun films rather than serious ones, keeps the film feeling light and easy-going. The audience is teased with a stylish soundtrack filled with classy French music (seriously one of the best parts of this entire film is the soundtrack), and there are some funny scenes that incite light giggles rather than any laugh out loud bursts of humour. These meager positives don’t improve the narrative but at least they make it a little less painful to digest. Ultimately, ‘A Simple Favor’ spends two hours flipping between being a trash novel & a parody of one. As the end credits roll, I still didn’t know. And the whole blend of trying to switch between the ‘mystery’ and the ‘comedy’ got tiresome after a while. But hey, everyone tries to give the audience a good time.

Ultimately, It wasn’t the best movie I’ve ever seen and all the actors play roles they are typically type cast for. It was surprisingly unfunny, oddly kind of enjoyable, even as super far fetched as it was. It’s a strange blend of mystery and comedy that doesn’t gel into a cohesive whole. As a piece of entertainment, it’s entirely disposable, but I give it kudos for not being the same old recycled material we’ve all been seeing lately.

Grade: C+
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Media Review Screening: Tuesday, September 11, 2018 ~ Courtesy of Lionsgate
‘A SIMPLE FAVOR IS NOW PLAYING NATIONWIDE // Worldwide release to follow

Drama, Movie Reviews, Movies, Romance

“AGE OF ADALINE” (2015) Lionsgate

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Age of adeline
Release date: Friday, April 24th, 2015

The Age of Adaline plays like preposterous story, booby-trapped for maximal ridiculousness, with little tasteful conviction and is far from the tearjerker suggested by the trailer. While it’s not entirely an unpleasant film, it is more than a bit dull, reining in the inherent silliness of its material and taking few risks — in other words..Sappy, Sappy and then more Sap. Throw in some absolutely terrible dialogue and some mediocre acting and you have yourself “The Age of Adaline.” While the plot might be unrealistic, at least it’s based on something a lot of us might actually wish could happen, whereas the actual dialogue is not even something the bigger stars of this film can save, and it’s hard to watch that kind of talent be forced to actually repeat this script.

As we plod through this story of “Adaline Bowman” (Blake Lively) a woman who has miraculously remained youthful 29 years old while actually being 109 years of age, they never pull us inside Adaline’s head space or make the premise, which could actually be interesting if done well, meaningful. For example, they never really delve into the fact that the character is being a woman at once old and young at the same time..Instead, they stick to a fairly bland romantic storyline, reducing Adaline’s presumably terrifying, enlightening experience to a predictable choice between following her head or her heart.
age of adaline 1

In this little ditty of sappy movie gone bad, Adaline has remained ageless for nearly eight decades due to a freak lightening storm-car accident combination that happened to her. After years of a solitary life of never allowing anyone to get close to her lest they find out her big secret, lo and behold, on a completely ‘chance’ encounter..she meets a man, a charismatic philanthropist named “Ellis Jones” (Michiel Huisman) on a one-night stand and yep, you guessed it, he immediately falls in love with her..literally within 12hrs and wisks her away to his parents house in the country to meet them. Because yeah, that always happens. Without giving to much away, it turns out his father, “William Jones” (Harrison Ford) might already know her. Cathy Baker is “Connie Jones” Ellis’ mother and she can see something is up from moment one, but neither one of these good actors can save the really awful dialogue they are made to spout out.
Age of adaline 2
If you haven’t figured out by now or what’s going to happen next while cringing in your seat, well, then this film is perfect for you. And yes, I know there is a niche’ audience for these types of films, and I can roll with that. What I can’t roll with is bad writing and while Blake Lively has done some really good supporting turns in such films as The Town, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Savages, she cannot yet carry an entire film as not even Ellen Burstyn as her ‘daughter’ “Flemming” can save this confected cream puff of a melodrama. This film never lunges into four-hankie territory, nor does it melt into Nicholas Sparks type corny romance. It had potential, sadly they missed it.

Screening at AMC Century City 15 ~ Wednesday, April 15th, 2015
Grade: D
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