Another Simple Favour Review
Despite Paul Feig’s reluctance to dabble in sequels, it always felt like A Simple Favour (2018) would get a follow-up. Its cocktail of frothy mom soap mixed with deadly noir that had a lip-tingling sharpness that initially appealed to cinema audiences and then proved to be even more to the taste of viewers in need of entertainment during the pandemic. Seven years later, Feig’s put his reservations to one side and brought back the cast for a second outing on glamorous Capri – but Another Simple Favour is in desperate need of a shot of the strongest limoncello the island can offer.
With her business still on the up, seemingly perfect mum vlogger Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) finds everything threatened by the unexpected return of one-time best friend, Emily (Blake Lively). She brings some even more surprising news: not only is she getting married to a wealthy Italian businessman, she also wants Stephanie to be her maid of honour. The setting for the extravagant ceremony is the Italian island of Capri, but all the sunshine, luxury, and celebrations can’t disguise there’s something darker lurking beneath the surface, and Stephanie soon finds herself embroiled in finding out exactly what’s going on while trying to stay away from danger. It’s no exaggeration to say she has her work cut out.
In reuniting his original cast – and adding a sprinkling of glitter from Allison Janney and Elizabeth Perkins – Feig sets up the promise of more of the same but even glossier. If only. The setting is inevitably a breathtaking gift to cinematographer John Schwartzman (also behind the camera for the director’s previous film, Jackpot!) with its rugged landscape, vibrant colours, and never-ending sunshine, but the narrative is unable to live up to it. It starts out well enough, but as the twists turn into constant spirals, the entire film loses not only the plot but its sense of humour, and the pleasantly tingling suspense that worked so well first time round simply doesn’t get a look-in. It’s the poorer for it because what was clearly meant to be a frothy dramady becomes a thumb-twiddler with very little in the way of laughs.
The majority of the original line-up are powerless to help, with the majority putting in little more than cameo appearances. Henry Golding has a touch more screen time but as Emily’s ex-husband Sean, he’s undergone a personality transplant to become unpleasantly bitter and sozzled. Kendrick and Lively still make a good double act, but even they seem toned down: there’s nothing new to learn about Emily, and the desperate eagerness to please that gave Stephanie her appeal has fizzled out. Even new addition Janney, with all her comedy chops, can do little with a role that she could do blindfolded with both hands tied behind her back.
What could have been a piece of colourful springtime fun is more like a much-memed phrase. Another Simple Favour is irresistibly cute to look at, but the non-stop hairpin bends in the plot become so ludicrous that it ends up being downright and disappointingly stupid.
★★
On Prime Video from May 1st / Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Allison Janney, Andrew Rannells, Michele Morrone / Dir: Paul Feig / Prime Video / 15
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