A Simple Favor (2018)

A Simple Favor (2018)

4/10

Starring

Anna Kendrick

Blake Lively

Directed by Paul Feig

Is it possible for a movie to have too many twists and turns for its own good?
The answer is yes.
A Simple Favor decided to be one of those movies that keeps twisting and turning, trying hard to shake off the viewer. That said, holding on to see how this movie ends isn’t a difficult task. For me, the movie couldn’t add enough thrill or fun in its twists and turns to make up for the time I spent watching it.

When things in this movie get a little dry, the director (Paul Feig) and his writers decide that imaginations and flashbacks are the best way to fill the void. Even though this movie seems to have good reviews, I believe it wasn’t worth the experience. I was left wondering what the reviews were even talking about. That said, I agree with them that the leads, Anna Kendrick (Stephanie) and Blake Lively (Emily), were the best thing this movie had to offer. But note, even they couldn’t make up for the lack of enthusiasm this movie had.

A Simple Favor plays out like this: there’s one intelligent psycho who has all the plans figured out from the beginning. Then, to spice things up, sometimes she doesn’t have everything figured out.

The plot is about two women who couldn’t be more different from each other, even though both have dark secrets best left in the dark. They both have sons going to the same school, and a playdate brings the mothers together. Soon, they become friends.

Stephanie is a vlogger and lives off the life insurance she got from her husband’s death. Emily, on the other hand, is still married, and she and her husband are dead broke.
One day, Emily calls for a simple favor. She asks Stephanie to watch her son for her while she’s out of town. Days pass, and Stephanie hasn’t heard from Emily, so she decides to speak up. She reports Emily’s disappearance to the cops and Emily’s husband (who was out of the country at the time), but nothing comes of it.

Things then get twisted when a body washes up on shore. It’s the body of a woman whose DNA and physical appearance match Emily’s.
Now, Stephanie decides to investigate Emily’s life, hoping these clues will lead her to find Emily’s killer.

I think the reviews are huge fans of the lead ladies because the movie itself doesn’t deliver the same kind of fun they claim to have gotten from watching it.