Keep it simple, stupid
No matter how many mid-budget comedies or Amazon Prime original detours he makes, Paul Feig will always be, to me, the co-creator of Freaks and Geeks. He’s also the author of some of the funniest, most mortifying memoirs I’ve ever read in Kick Me and Superstud. But occupying the bronze medal spot on my Feig podium is A Simple Favor, his 2018 sugar-coated noir. It’s an unlikely and miraculously sharp Hitchcock riff filtered through upper-class suburban satire and a poisoned pastel color palette. It’s funny, nasty, and one of the most purely enjoyable films of the 2010s.
And yet, for all my affection, A Simple Favor never occurred to me for a moment as a film that needed a sequel. Part of its appeal was how well it spun its tonal plates — comedy, mystery, erotic-tinged thriller, airport novel pulp — without letting any of them crash. It’s a balancing act that felt, if not impossible to replicate, then at least pointless to try. So when updates started rolling in about Another Simple Favor, I greeted them with disinterest and a smidge of annoyance.
But credit where it’s due: Another Simple Favor carves out a distinctive tonal space of its own. It’s not nearly as tight or carefully engineered as the original — more gas station wine cooler than $16 appletini — but it goes down easy. It tones down the suspense and barbed satire of the original, instead leaning into the comedy and the trashy plot twists and thrills. Frothy but, against the odds, satisfying.
Unlike the original, Feig doesn’t waste time grounding us in a reality to gradually unspool. We’re dropped straight into pulp, this time with a decadent European twist, as the action relocates to sun-soaked Capri. The plot is soapy and completely implausible.
Five years after faking her own death (and framing her own twin for murder), Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) is out of prison and back in Stephanie Smothers’ (Anna Kendrick) life. Stephanie, now a true crime vlogger and author with a fanbase full of Murderinos, has just published a memoir about the tangled friendship and betrayal of the first film. At a book signing, Emily reappears and ropes Stephanie into a destination wedding in Capri. The groom is a wealthy, handsome, intimidating man named Dante (Michele Morrone), whom Emily describes as “an old friend,” and who will most assuredly not play upon stereotypes about Italian organized crime, nope, no way. Emily convinces Stephanie to take the maid-of-honor gig as both an olive branch and a threat: Play her manipulative games or get brought down by Emily’s new wealth and power. Stephanie, not-so-secretly a glutton for chaos, agrees.
Once in Capri, the movie kicks into both sensory and narrative overdrive. We meet (and re-meet) a swirl of glamorous suspects of crimes-to-be-committed leading up to the wedding: Emily’s ex-husband Sean (Henry Golding), now bitter and boozy; her son Nicky (Ian Ho), a precocious pre-teen with annoying hair; Dante’s icy mother Portia (Elena Sofia Ricci); and a suspicious woman masquerading as a tourist but clearly tailing Stephanie (Taylor Ortega). Emily’s mom (Elizabeth Perkins replacing Elizabeth Smart) and aunt (Allison Janney) show up. A murder ensues, then another and another, all (in)conveniently centered around Stephanie to make her a prime suspect. Dramatic livestreams, blackmail, poison injections, explosions, and mistaken identities all pile up as the narrative straddles soap opera and thriller spoof.
Part of what made A Simple Favor so fun was the electrifying push-pull between Kendrick’s fracturing sweetness and Lively’s icy charisma. The two performances in the original were so distinct and dialed-in that I still have trouble picking a favorite. This time, though, it’s not even close: Lively owns Another Simple Favor. She’s turned it up to 11: cool, mean, slippery, sexy, and oozing danger. Her deadpan delivery is phenomenal, and, by the end of the story, she gets to take her performance into even weirder, more unhinged territory than before. I have her penciled in for a 2025 B.A.D.S. nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Kendrick, meanwhile, settles into a more overtly comic groove this time around. Her Stephanie is still the plucky, type-A try-hard from first film, but given the outcome of the first film, there’s no longer a sense of Stephanie treading the line between proper and ruthless; the character is a little more broad and squarely “quipping heroine.” The performance works — Kendrick is a naturally funny and dynamic actor — but it doesn’t quite reach the same depths as her previous turn. It’s fine, but this is Lively’s world now.
Much of the film’s fun comes from its indulgent production, and nowhere is that more evident than in the costuming. Lively gets about six outfits that each belong on the film’s poster or the cover a fashion magazine. It’s an absolute treat, a mix of Italian Riviera elegance and haute couture supervillainy that tells you everything you need to know about Emily before she even opens her mouth. At one point she wears a very big hat. I could warn you that this hat is bigger than you expect it to be from me simply calling it a “very big hat,” and that warning may present to you a new mental image of how big this hat is, but I assure you that the hat is even bigger than that. Slam dunk hat of the year.
Feig clearly knows that a major draw here is the vibe of the setting. He shoots Capri like a travel brochure: cliffside villas, blue-tiled fountains, golden-hour yachts. He probably uses one or two too many drone shots zipping over sun-drenched rooftops, but I honestly can’t blame him. I would not be surprised if Feig binged the second season of The White Lotus in preparation — it has the same intoxicating Italian luxury. The backdrop lends the film a plush, escapist sheen that’s a new wrinkle compared to the domestic original.
Despite how featherweight the film sometimes feels, it’s modestly effective in its labyrinthine plotting. The story takes a little too long to really get going, but once it does, it’s pretty committed, juggling all the twisty silliness quite well. It repeats some beats from the original to diminishing effect, but still holds together. There’s a lot of pleasure in the pulpy turns, even when the gears are greased with arch nonsense. Only a couple threads, like the investigation of an undercover FBI agent, dangle or dead-end, and I’m willing to dismiss those as red herrings.
One conclusion that I draw from Another Simple Favor and the original is that Feig’s peak operating space these days is in soapy comic thrillers. Many of his films are almost defiantly uncool and out-of-style, from Jackpot’s Jackie Chan martial arts comedy riff to Last Christmas’s loopy holiday romance. Excluding Spy, which is well-regarded but I haven’t seen, the two Simple Favors are easily the most effective of his films since Bridesmaids, and possibly ever. I get the sense he’s giving himself permission to have fun and go crowd-pleasing as he dabbles in Hitchcock homage and drapes his supermodel in outrageous gowns. I hope Feig follows that inspiration and that his trashy thriller phase continues. (And if it does, I hope his movies get theatrical releases; Another Simple Favor is one of 2025’s inexplicable streaming-only films, lending it an unneeded air of cheapness.)
Another Simple Favor isn’t anywhere as good as the first, and it’s so lightweight and hits a couple too many of the beats of the original to really crackle. But it’s also clear it’s never trying to outdo the original, instead just playing the hits in a lovely new setting and a new supporting cast. I’m right on the fence of soft thumbs up and an affectionate shrug. Thanks to the spectacularly game Blake Lively and glossy production, I’ll give it a passing grade.
Is It Good?
Good (5/8)
Dan is the founder and head critic of The Goods. Follow Dan on Letterboxd. Join the Discord for updates and discussion.