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| photo courtesy of zayzay.com |
In A Simple Favor, vlogger Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) and fashion house
PR agent Emily (Blake Lively) strike up an unlikely friendship. Emily—peculiar,
bold, unapologetic—breathes new energy into Stephanie’s mundane existence. That
is, until she disappears. As the search for Emily continues, Stephanie begins
to untangle an elaborate web of secrets and deceptions. Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, Spy, 2016 Ghostbusters), directs.
In the broad strokes, A Simple Favor owes to a lot to Gone Girl and the plethora of suburban
neo-noir stories that it has inspired. All the pieces are there: you’ve got
your enigmatic central character, your twisty-turny plot, your sinister revelations,
your chessboard battle of wits. But thanks to the comedic influence of Paul
Feig, A Simple Favor doesn’t feel
like a cut-and-dry Gone Girl wannabe.
Where Gone Girl has darkness and
gloom, A Simple Favor has humor and
style. Add in memorable performances from its lead actresses, and suddenly A Simple Favor is a really fun, wonderfully
self-absorbed mystery flick.
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| photo courtesy of variety.com |
There’s something
disarming about the way A Simple Favor
just owns its crazy, unlikely story. Even when it retreads familiar beats—which,
frankly, it does quite a bit—you have to respect the movie’s willingness to go
full telenovela with these plot twists. It’s ludicrous, it’s intriguing, and at
the very least, it’ll keep you on your toes.
Still, the movie has
the most success when it slows down
and examines the relationship between its two main characters. It’s not novelty
that makes their relationship interesting; we’ve seen this dynamic (admiration,
obsession, jealousy, homoerotic tension) play out before. But A Simple Favor convinces the audience
that these weird characters are complex and compelling enough to be worth our
attention. The screenplay gives them a level of realism, of course, but it’s
Kendrick and Lively—both excellently cast—who sell them. They’ve got chemistry
to spare.
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| photo courtesy of bustle.com |
In places, the movie’s self-confidence
leads it astray. There are weak characterization decisions regarding both the
main characters and the supporting cast. Most noticeably, Feig lets the movie’s
ending go overboard, into the realm of “gotcha” gags and self-parody. In scenes
like those, you get the feeling A Simple
Favor might have been more interesting if it had stuck to its guns instead
of indulging in that last crazy twist.
TRAILER
Watch the trailer here.
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| photo courtesy of bustle.com |
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