Another Simple Favor (United States, 2025)

When it comes to simple favors, the last thing that we need is another one. It would have been different if the first film, 2018’s A Simple Favor, had been deserving of a sequel rather than being just another failed comedy/thriller that only a few dedicated fans will remember. Nevertheless, in an era when older titles are being strip-mined with unseemly desperation, someone decided there was value in revisiting the characters of Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Blake Lively). And, with the actors and director Paul Feig on board, the only thing no one bothered with was a good screenplay.

For a little while, it appears the decision to make Another Simple Favor might have been the right one. The first half-hour is suffused with energy and wit. The repartee between Stephanie and Emily crackles and the put-downs tossed around by Henry Golding’s Sean are things of beauty. Sadly, the more the movie leans into the weak narrative at the expense of the combustible Kendrick/Lively chemistry, the less entertaining it becomes. The thriller beats generally fall into two categories: twists that are entirely predictable and turns that no one is likely to care about.

Another Simple Favor’s setup goes through various contortions to put as much of the band back together as can reasonably be assembled. The action starts five years after the end of the previous film. With sales from the book she wrote about Emily in decline, blogger/author Stephanie is looking for her next big project. That’s when Emily, newly released from prison after the intervention of some high-priced lawyers, re-enters her life. It seems the statuesque blond is about to marry an Italian Stallion named Dante Versano (Michele Morrone) and she would like Stephanie to be her Maid of Honor. Faster than anyone can say “Destination Wedding,” a few Simple Favor holdovers are jetting off to Capri, where murders will happen, betrayals will be unveiled, and a mysterious killer will be unmasked.

Although the storyline isn’t necessarily less plausible than the one presented in A Simple Favor, it’s less overtly over-the-top. Another Simple Favor feels lazy and overplotted, and it definitely overstays its welcome. Two hours is at least 20 minutes too much. Many sequences run on for too long and others could have been cut altogether. Far too much time is devoted to the nasty, embittered matriarch of the Versano clan, Portia (Elena Sofia Ricci). Less is more with her. The same is true of Emily’s mother, Margaret (Elizabeth Perkins relacing Jean Smart), and Stephanie’s publicist, Vicky (Alex Newell).

Although Blake Lively appears to be fully invested in her character, the same cannot be said of Anna Kendrick. Although she summons sufficient energy to energize her scenes with Lively, there are also times when she appears to be sleepwalking her way through the proceedings. Henry Golding brings an acerbic quality to his part but he doesn’t have much screen time, thereby limiting the number of scenes he can steal. No one else leaves much of an impression, with many of the actors easily being upstaged by the gorgeous scenery.

At one point, Another Simple Favor was scheduled for a theatrical release but Amazon Studios decided to pull it from multiplexes and instead offer it directly for streaming through the Prime Video service. Several factors led to this decision but the most notable is that box office projections were apparently very “soft.” This can function as a warning to any company considering resurrecting a somewhat obscure title in the hope that a sequel might bring a financial windfall. That sort of thing only works when there’s a pent-up desire for a story or characters. In this case, there wasn’t one and the filmmakers failed to compensate with an engaging on-screen product.

Another Simple Favor (United States, 2025)