Directed By Paul Feig

Starring – Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick, Allison Janney

The Plot – Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Lively) reunite on the island of Capri, Italy, for Emily’s extravagant wedding to a rich Italian businessman, which is interrupted by murder and betrayal.

Rated R for violence, sexual content, nudity, adult language throughout, and suicide

Another Simple Favor – Official Trailer | Prime Video

POSITIVES

It’s been seven years since “A Simple Favor” won over audiences with its brand of true crime satire that took Paul Feig in an entirely different genre of directing, and while this sequel fails to capture the essence and underlining twistedness of its superior original, there are some refreshing aspects that help to justify its existence, beginning with the rebranding of the screenplay, which helps to keep this from being a beat for beat rehashing of that first movie. As to where that film centered around the untimely disappearance of Emily, and how those closest to her picked up the pieces, this sequel steers closer to the slasher mystery formula that typically have a mystery assailant with an ulterior motive, and though the execution of this storytelling evolution flounders itself with convolution, during the inferior second half, I can at least say that the first half capably kept me invested to the mounting stakes and ever-growing dynamic among its characters, with an abundance of fresh faces and value to our returning veterans that effortlessly articulated that any one of them could be responsible for the body count that wastes very little time in starting to stack. On top of this, the location shift to Italy is one that comes with impeccable value towards the breathtaking scenery and European sheik that makes the presentation a truly vast improvement that feels bigger in every measurable element. The choice to actually shoot this on location within the Capri vineyards conjures intoxicating atmosphere that surprisingly balances and compliments the devastating darkness of the material accordingly, and though the filmmaking isn’t doing anything remarkably ambitious with its transitions or documentation, the spellbinding scenery is more than enough proverbial bang for the productive buck, considering this is a straight-to-streaming effort, cementing big screen appeal to the value of at home cinematography that helps to bridge the gap of expectations even tighter for future productions. The performances also offer charming endearment to the extent of a two hour runtime, with Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick seamlessly step back into their respective portrayals, while Allison Janney offers the most meaningful addition to the fresh faces landing impactful influence over the proceedings. It probably goes a bit ironically to say that Lively was born to play this role as Emily, considering everything currently going on in the continued legal battle between her and Justin Baldoni, however she’s truly having the time of her live reveling in the devilishly dangerous details of the character, with not only the kind of unblinking honesty that made her initial portrayal her single best performance to date, but also a newfound air of ambiguity to her character’s intentions that command focus upon her, each time she invades the screen. Kendrick still naturally emits the quirkiness and discomfort in her fish out of water demeanor, but there’s an attained element of confidence and precision to her various deliveries earned from the end of the previous film that allows Stephanie to stand toe to toe with Emily, in terms of vicious banter, and with the duo effortlessly attaining the natural kind of chemistry that makes their interactions bloom with tangible charisma, I simply couldn’t get enough of those moments where they simultaneously shared the screen, especially considering the testing of waters speculation that each of them has towards one another. As for Janney, she’s every bit the enigmatic presence that she is in every film that she improves by her inclusion, but she fits so comfortably in the role of speculative caretaker so definitively that she, like Lively and Kendrick, feels like a holdover from the previous film, emitting impeccable comedic timing and cadence to composure that stood as the only noteworthy among the various new additions to this decorated ensemble. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly to the film’s favor, the costume designs and set decoration once again offer an upper class elegance to the personality of the film, with ample opportunity in the imagery of the presentation to sulk and splurge in the various dressings of the character. As to where the first film used wardrobe to outline the vast differences between Stephanie and Emily, so too does this sequel, only this time in Valentino gowns and sundresses that envelope the essence of the Italian countryside, and if you’re a fashion or aesthetics guru, this should be the only reason you seek this film out.

NEGATIVES

Unfortunately, “Another Simple Favor” is bogged down by the same kind of convoluted storytelling and tonal clashes that made the first nearly land in disaster, particularly during the depths of its unraveling mystery, which is surmised by ingredients of illogic and characterization compromising so apparent that it entirely compromises every semblance of suspense or intrigue from the conflict. I’m somebody who can overlook a lot when it comes to the laws and legalities of life depicted in cinema, however there is no legal system in the United States that would release Emily’s character to the open public on appeal, especially considering the abundance of documented proof against her from the original movie, and that’s truly the issue with this sequel, as it feels like it either treats its audience like idiots, or hopes that they will forget everything from the initial installment, feeling not only like a parody of itself in the worst kind of ways, but also a script that feels like it’s continuously making up things the longer it goes, resulting in an overstuffed two hours of film that grew tediously exhausting as early as the midway point because of how constantly the narrative in the foreground of the timeline shifts abruptly to things that happened away from audience eyes between films. For my money, there’s simply too many characters to keep following, whether in the abundance of new additions that essentially serve very little importance to the narrative, or returning supporting characters who after the first few scenes are forgotten about entirely, and while I understand the point of the former is to convey a magnitude of possible suspects to the murder mystery, it can’t avoid the kind of excessive fat that in another film would be trimmed for deleted scenes, in turn compressing the movie’s pacing to not flowing as seamlessly or effortlessly as a streaming installment requires in the comforts of home relaxation. Even the ending requires a leap in logic the size of the Grand Canyon, with a resolution so hollow and easily defeated that it practically screams that a third film is coming, but we’re forced to go along with it because this is the stupidity of the world assembled, and you’re not having mindless fun if you’re thinking too frequently about logic or characterization. As for the aforementioned humor, Feig definitely feels like he depends on it so more forcefully than his predecessor, with very little in the way of clever or inventive writing to effectively elicit laughter as a means for such a tonal imbalance. During the first film, comedy was used almost as a caustic underlining to the devastating things happening in and around these characters, but here the commentary towards true crime fandom is practically non-existent, exchanged instead for the kind of off-beat shenanigans that inspire long-lasting improvisation, all the while sacrificing what little tension that these scenes were able to attain with a mounting body count during the first half, making this feel like a campier comedy with very little underlining nuance or suspense to scene outcomes that anyone could see coming from miles away. Finally, while twists typically have a way of dropping the jaws of unsuspecting audiences, here the abundance of them continuously stacked upon one another not only desensitized the magnitude of their arriving impacts, but also drifted this film further from reality in ways that distanced us even further to these characters. Some of them are predictable once you get a grasp of the kind of world that Feig is going for, while others are compromising to the point of feeling far too disgustingly disturbing for this particular franchise, and it makes the script feel like every scene should be devoted to shocking the audience, exploiting every avenue of controversy without anything in the way of meaningful merit for how any of it makes this a better and more compelling film.

OVERALL
“Another Simple Favor” is far from simple, in fact it’s an overly convoluted and often structurally stretched day-drinking romper that sacrifices the appeal of mesmerizing performances and stylistically stimulating production values for an abundance of off-character decisions, illogical realities, and stacking twists that tediously exhausts its audience like the worst kind of hangover. If “A Simple Favor” played as a cheeky noir cocktail, this one tastes more like a watered down second round, and in the case of most straight-to-streaming efforts, the audience gets what they paid for.

My Grade: 5.3 or D