ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR -- Girls Night In

Review by Adam Donato

Earlier this year, Paul Feig felt inclined to dispel rumors of the sequel to A Simple Favor getting delayed amongst the drama surrounding Blake Lively. Why not make a sequel to a film that made almost $100 million off a $20 million budget and has a cult following? Lively has seen recent box office success with last year’s adaptation of It Ends With Us. Clearly some kind of deal with the devil was made for no amount of box office success is worth all the drama she had with director Justin Baldoni. Could that dirt have influenced the decision to limit this sequel to streaming? Amazon did have to shut off the comments to the film’s trailer on social media. Then again, isn’t hot gossip what this franchise and Lively’s career is all about?

Another Simple Favor conjures up a new reason why these two women would ever be in the same room as each other ever again. Lively’s character blackmails Anna Kendrick to be her maid of honor at her wedding in Capri, Italy. This sets the sequel up at a beautiful location, with pretty settings and stunning fashion. It’s a big step up from the suburban setting of the first film. Makes this entry feel bigger. The drama is also bigger here as now all these characters from the first movie have a juicy history together. Everyone seemingly has it out for one another and once the bodies start hitting the floor, it’s fun to see our crime fanatic on the case. 

Lovely and Kendrick are so much fun together. Lively as the cool girl dom of the duo and Kendrick as the every girl who finds herself infatuated by the confidence of her dangerous friend. It’s that type of Mean Girls dynamic that some friends can relate to. They want to be Lively so bad as we follow Kendrick through this forest of mystery and backstabbing. The two are much more comfortable with each other this time around and make for some funny banter. Retelling this duo was a good decision. 

The plot does get convoluted to the point of ridiculousness. This feels like it was done in an effort to make sure nobody could call what was happening all along, but ends up just becoming too much. The intrigue leading up to the reveal is way more fun than discovering what’s actually in the box for these movies. The villain reveal is flimsy and cheesy, but this is just a fun girls night out comedy mystery and it succeeds as being that. 

It’s a real shame this wouldn’t get a theatrical release. Especially when a heavy movie like It Ends With Us can do so well with Lively’s star power. Another Simple Favor is a much more fun time at the theater with the girls. It will be long forgotten in the bowels of Amazon Prime’s content library, but this unnecessary sequel isn’t worth much more than a passing good time first watch. 

Another Simple Favor will be streaming on Prime Video May 1.

Rating: 3/5