Movie Review: A Simple Favor

A Simple Favor

Director: Paul Feig

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Ian Ho, Joshua Satine, Bashir Salahuddin

Rating: R

Runtime: 119 minutes

With Paul Feig directing and Anna Kendrick starring, it’s easy to assume you’re in for a comedy with A Simple Favor. From the trailers to even the first thirty minutes of the film, it’s honestly difficult to read the tone or pinpoint the genre. There are moments of almost sitcom humor as parents in a classroom trash talk Anna Kendrick’s bubbly mom character Stephanie Smothers, and then there are intensely dramatic scenes that feels straight out of a mystery/thriller. And as the story unfolds and more and more secrets are revealed, there’s a melodramatic air that begins to hang over the film. Now I’m setting all of this up, but I know you’re really here for one thing: is the movie good?

In the beginning, the movie sets itself up as a blend of suspense and comedy with Stephanie meeting the enigmatic Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) and beginning the two’s strange friendship. A short time after meeting each other, however, Emily goes missing and is eventually declared dead. Stephanie is left devastated, and makes it her personal mission to uncover the truth behind Emily’s strange death and possible murder. But as more truths come to light and character’s hidden colors are exposed, the tone shifts to something like a thriller.

Now, this tonal shift isn’t a totally bad thing; the movie has you on your toes almost the entire time as you navigate through the mystery with the characters while also not fully trusting the people you’re supposed to root for. Almost every character that appears on-screen (save for the children and the cops) have some kind of hidden agenda or dark aspect to their personality that influences their actions and leaves audiences wondering who, if anyone, can be considered a “good person.” Emily is an incredibly captivating being that seems to drag everyone around her into her sinister machinations (in a fashion that vaguely reminds me of the character Tomie created by horror mangaka Junji Ito), and her husband Sean Townsend (Henry Golding) is almost pitiable in how powerless he is to her and yet still manages to have his share of negative qualities. Stephanie, our happy-go-lucky protagonist, is herself revealed to be an incredibly layered character with a lot more to her than just being an enthusiastic mother, and by the end of the film you find yourself wondering which leading lady is the crazier one.

I think I’ve made it clear that I enjoyed these characters a lot, so it should follow that the acting was great throughout. Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively were easily the standout performances, with Anna Kendrick playing her character almost too well. Blake Lively charms not only the characters in the movie but the audience itself, and even once you realize just how horrible of a person she is you still can’t help but want to see just how far her plot goes. I fell in love with Henry Golding in Crazy Rich Asians, and I’m happy to see here that the man has the chops to play more dramatic roles. His character in this is just as charismatic as he was in Crazy Rich Asians, but there’s also an ugliness to him that makes him more dynamic. Besides the main three, the only other performance that really stood out to me was Bashir Salahuddin who plays Detective Summervile. In a lot of movies like this, the cops are typically pretty inept or end up being corrupt themselves, but Summervile genuinely seemed like he was trying to solve the case by the book. There isn’t too much of him in the movie, but when he’s there I enjoy the hell out of him.

So is the movie good? Yes. But is it as good as I was expecting? Really, I don’t know. While I praised the characters and tonal shifts, the third act takes a melodramatic twist that while totally not outside the realm of possibility established in the film still feels ridiculous and undermines the more serious tone the movie carried in the beginning which definitely disappointed me. There are a lot of moments in the movie that allude to the ridiculousness of the climax, but at least in the beginning the film feels like a balance of ridiculous and dramatic rather than the wild storm of events we witness leading up to the finale. The end of the film was also completely insane, but satisfying to see the characters you wanted either succeed or fail. The best aZdvice I could give for viewing this film is to throw all your expectations in the trash before walking into the theater. If you’re willing to go along for the ride, then you’ll have a fun time. Just don’t try to grab that steering wheel or question the destination, lest our ladies show you just how crazy they can get.