Another Simple Favor

"Another Simple Favor" tries to recapture the quirky charm and mystery of its predecessor, but ends up feeling like a forced, over-the-top sequel that forgot what made the original work. The plot is needlessly convoluted, filled with implausible twists that seem to exist just for shock value rather than story cohesion.

Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick reprise their roles, but their chemistry feels strained and less natural this time around. Instead of building tension or emotional depth, the film leans heavily into absurdity and camp, losing the balance between dark humor and thriller that made the first film engaging.

All in all, I find it disappointing.

Unfortunately, Another Simple Favor was a major letdown. As expected, it struggled with the same problem I'd anticipated: it's not clear what story is left to tell.

The original film centered around Stephanie, a seemingly ordinary suburban mom and aspiring YouTuber, who gets drawn into a dark mystery involving her glamorous new friend. It worked because it was grounded, quirky, and had just enough of a true-crime flavor to keep it relatable and engaging. But in the sequel, Stephanie is now a famous best-selling author, and the story takes us to Europe for a mob wedding. The grounded appeal of the first film is completely gone. Instead, it turns into full-blown lifestyle fantasy-extravagant fashion, exotic settings, and absurd scenarios that lack the relatability of the original.

The movie constantly references the first one-sometimes too much-and tries to top its jokes, but it often comes off forced or ill-advised. There are plot points that are played for laughs but really shouldn't be, and some of the humor feels out of place or even tone-deaf.

That said, it's not unwatchable. There are a few solid laughs, and the locations are undeniably gorgeous. But it just didn't work for me. It lost the spirit of what made the original special and became something flashier, but emptier.

I enjoyed the first movie. The characters had some realism to them and were somewhat likeable. These characters are cardboard cutouts, profoundly selfish and unlikeable, unbelievable and written as if some not ready for prime time 19 year who was trying to be cool wrote this. Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, do you really need the money this bad? I would have read the script and said I am not doing this film - not unless the script is shredded and rewritten. You can kiss a third installment goodbye after this mess. If you can go into this with no expectations and see it as a forgettable who done it, then maybe it is worth watching while folding socks or something.

Sorry Paul Feig but this sequel is rubbish. No amount of great wardrobe makes it watchable unfortunately. When you are fast forwarding to get to the end you know its bad. There are rumours of a third, hopefully Anna will not waste her time. She's a good actress and can do better but in any event I think she made it clear working with the blonde one was not easy, despite what Paul has tried to maintain. Understandably so he has a movie to push and he doesn't want it affecting that. Anyway, that aside the sequel is not as good as the first one and will skip the third if it's ever made. Don't waste your money.

Five years ago my wife and I watched 'A Simple Favor' and found it reasonably interesting and entertaining. So we settled in after dinner and wine to watch this sequel, streaming on Prime.

Had my wife not been watching also, I would have turned it off after the first 10 or 15 minutes. The main characters use the worst cursing language you can imagine, not to add to the story or the characters but just to use foul language. That was disappointing. But we stuck with it.

Blake Lively is back as Emily and Anna Kendrick is back as Vlogger Stephanie. This time they are going to the Isle of Capri for Emily's wedding. She sort of forces Stephanie to go along.

The first movie involves Emily using her identical twin in an illegal scheme to get money. In this movie we find out there actually were triplets, and now the third is entering the fray.

The overall story here is not that good, much of the dialog is misplaced, the situations mostly implausible.

Not a very good movie at all.