Another Simple Favor (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment
May 1
3 min read

ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR (2025)

Starring Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Andrew Rannells, Bashir Salahuddin, Elizabeth Perkins, Michele Morrone, Elena Sofia Ricci, Alex Newell, Henry Golding, Allison Janney, Michele Morrone, Joshua Satine, Ian Ho, Kelly McCormack, Taylor Ortega, Lorenzo de Moor, Aparna Nancherla, Mitch Salm, Diletta Jayne, Holmes, Aparna Nancherla and Jake Tapper.

Screenplay by Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis.

Directed by Paul Feig.

Distributed by Amazon MGM Studios. 120 minutes. Rated R.

For the second straight week, Another Simple Favor is an unexpected sequel for an almost 10-year-old film. (The other one was The Accountant 2, and by strange coincidence Anna Kendrick was one of the stars in both original films, although she was not in the second Accountant film.) Not only was A Simple Favor released back in 2018, but it was not a particularly popular film at the time, and you haven’t really heard of a big cult following building up for the film through screening or video.

Beyond the business considerations, there was also a narrative problem for continuing the story. In the end of the original film, one of the main characters attempted to kill the other one because she exposed her crimes. Also the other one had an affair with her friend’s husband. So they were definitely estranged and neither one trusted the other. Eventually one friend was put in prison for 20 years. So, it would take a whole lot of plot juggling to get them back together as “friends” a mere seven years later, wouldn’t it?

It would, and it sort of did, but the Simple Favor films never really worried so much about plot consistency. They were all about style, and dammit if they aren’t stylin’ again.

Another Simple Favor is no great film, but it is a fun and breezy goof, which sandwiches a twisty mystery over onto a wonderfully catty character study of suburban mothers – which is all it wants to be. The first one had the same breezy irreverence as well, although this time around some of the mystery twists go a bit too far.

But that’s okay. The mystery is just a garnish here, an olive in one of the iced martinis that Emily (Blake Lively) loves so much.

In the years since the original film, Stephanie (Kendrick) has gone from a pathetic mommy vlogger to a true-crime writer. She has just written a book based on her experiences with Emily and her crimes, but the sales are sluggish. When she is doing a book reading, she is surprised when Emily shows up, out of jail and about to marry a rich Italian gangster.

Continuing their frenemy relations, Emily asks Stephanie to be her maid of honor at her wedding, which will be in Capri, Italy. Stephanie is not sure if she trusts Emily, but she recognizes going could only help her book sales and internet presence. So she decides to go, even though she questions Emily’s motives.

And those are questionable. Eventually Emily disappears again, and Stephanie is suspected of murder.

However, that really doesn’t matter. Like I said, Another Simple Favor is not about the crimes. It is a comic look at the female bonding of some rather imperfect women, and on that level, it works surprisingly well.

For the second straight week, we have a sequel of a movie that we didn’t realize that we needed, but perhaps we really did.

Jay S. Jacobs