The unnecessary sequel we didn’t realize we needed — but are wickedly pleased to have.
When Blake Lively’s stylish sociopath Emily goes for a cliffside stroll in Another Simple Favor, drawing Anna Kendrick’s eternally fretful Stephanie back into her world, the movie more or less winks at us with a neon sign: “THIS WILL BE IMPORTANT.” Subtlety? Don’t make me laugh. This sequel to Paul Feig’s 2018 camp-thriller-comedy hybrid doesn’t mess with subtlety — it’s a wild genre and tone and melodrama hybrid, shaken and hurled in your face. And somehow, that’s half the appeal.
This franchise has always subsisted on its own surplus. The first one was a trashy, soapy, twisty descent into femme fatale hell with martini-slick style. By the finale, when the original cliffside is restored, the film has careened so many hard corners it’s nearly a loop-de-loop instead of a story arc.
And yet, if anything holds firm in all the mayhem, it is Blake Lively, with what looks like the complete life of her life playing Emily — a role that enables her to embody evil with swagger, in head-to-toe, laughably bespoke suits that scream “Savile Row meets Forever 21.” Emily is not just evil; she’s fabulous, measured, and fascinating — the kind of villain one finds oneself cheering on as she plots her murder.
A Preposterous Plot Made Even Preposterouser
Let’s try, for the sake of sanity, to recap what is happening here.
In the first Simple Favor, Stephanie, a pushy but adorable mommy vlogger, is used as a pawn in Emily’s game when she is recruited to babysit her son — only for Emily to fake her own death and attempt insurance fraud by drowning her lookalike sister. That movie was a campy delight, full of twisty logic and haute-fashion badness.
The second installment has Stephanie having turned her amateur sleuthing into an embryonic true crime writing career. Her book sales are limping along — until Emily shows up in the most Emily way possible: at one of Stephanie’s book readings, dressed like a fashionable prison break inmate. She’s got a new fiancé (Michele Morrone, of 365 Days fame), a new life in Italy, and a wedding invitation that’s too good — and too suspicious-looking — to turn down.
Stephanie, the curious cat that she is, anticipates a setup. Emily assures, though, that she’s reformed — no more plans of revenge, just love. Of course, as Another Simple Favor does, this isn’t really the case.
More Sisters, More Problems
Without spoiling everything (but honestly, how wouldn’t we?), the third act of the movie informs us that Emily and her allegedly dead twin sister weren’t the full story — there was a third. And she’s Charity. And her vibe? Crazy. Abandoned by crazy Aunt Linda (a scene-stealing Allison Janney), Charity isn’t only a con artist, but obsessed with Emily to the point of being dangerously incestuous.
Yes, you read that right. There’s drugging. There’s bed-sidling. It’s cringe-inducingly uncomfortable, done for tension and shock — and somehow, for a laugh too? The tonal whiplash is so intense, you may strain something.
Feig, whose genre-defying comedies like Spy and The Heat are appointment viewing, seems to throw all the available ideas against the wall in this one — and mercifully, enough of them stick to make for a fun ride. Just don’t look for it to make sense.
A Star Who Knows Exactly What She’s Doing
In the middle of this glistening mess is Lively, who does manage to keep the entire production grounded — or at least as grounded as it can get with a narrative that includes staged deaths, attempted murders galore, and a secret triplet with boundary issues. Her work is arch, ironic, and laser-sharp. She knows what movie she’s in, and she’s in on the joke.
And more beautifully still, it all comes on the heels of Lively’s being embroiled in a public legal spat with It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni — making her turn as a media-meddling bad girl an extra bonus of meta-commentary. She’s portraying the bad girl some paint her as — and she’s having the time of her life.
Kendrick, Chaos, and Camp
Anna Kendrick is still the perfect foil — wide-eyed and slightly unhinged, she has as good chemistry as ever with Lively. The two trade zingers like pros, and Feig wisely gives them plenty of space to squabble. The supporting cast lags behind in the mayhem somewhat, but no one is here for balance.
The plot veers off in hundreds of directions, and the film careens through a dozen or more genres — mystery, thriller, buddy comedy, romance, mob drama, court procedural, family drama, and psychological horror, to name a few. So many twists that one can’t help but not care whether they work — the delight is in sheer brazenness, rather than in sensibility.
Is It “Good”? Maybe Not. Is It Worth Watching? Absolutely.
Another Simple Favor isn’t a “good” movie by any traditional definition. It’s too sloppy, too tonally everywhere, and too absurd to be taken seriously. But it’s not trying to be, either. It’s a hyper-stylish, over-the-top, candy-coated fever dream — and sometimes, that’s exactly what a movie should be.
By the time the film ends — with a literal cliffhanger and the potential setup for Yet Another Simple Favor — you’ll either be exhausted or exhilarated. Probably both.
But you’ll definitely remember it.
