Another Simple Favour (dir. Paul Feig)

by Jack Martin | May 1, 2025

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 120 mins

UK Distributor: Prime Video

UK Release Date: 1 May 2025

WHO’S IN ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOUR?

Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Bashir Salahuddin, Elizabeth Perkins, Michele Morrone, Elena Sofia Ricci, Alex Newell, Allison Janney, Joshua Satine, Ian Ho, Kelly McCormack, Taylor Ortega, Lorenzo de Moor, Aparna Nancherla

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Paul Feig (director, producer), Laeta Kalogridis and Jessica Sharzer (writers), Laura Fischer, Brenda Gilbert and Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis (producers), Theodore Shapiro (composer), John Schwartzman (cinematographer), Brent White (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Stephanie (Kendrick) reunites with former foe Emily (Lively) for a destination wedding…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOUR?

Look, we’ve all seen the news, we know that Blake Lively’s going through a rough time right now with certain legal issues, and it’s not looking like it’s going to die down anytime soon. But whatever the outcome of that whole debacle ends up being, the fact remains that she is an exceptionally talented actor who has an unusually strong screen presence with oodles of charm to boot, and nowhere can you find a better example of all that than in director Paul Feig’s 2018 comedy-thriller A Simple Favour, wherein she stole the entire movie with her magnetic femme fatale charisma, her wardrobe straight out of a Vogue magazine shoot, and her penchant for some delicious-looking martinis that would make even James Bond froth from the mouth.

Fans of that film will be pleased to know that Lively is once again the life of the increasingly deadly party in Feig’s sequel Another Simple Favour, and that the follow-up itself is a fun ride which, despite not being quite as fresh as the original, you’ll be just as hooked on.

Anna Kendrick also returns as Stephanie Smothers, the mommy vlogger turned amateur sleuth who previously foiled the deadly scheme of Lively’s Emily Nelson and put her behind bars. Whilst promoting her new book about her experiences with Emily, Stephanie is approached by her main subject, fresh out of prison and inexplicably engaged to handsome and wealthy Italian mobster Dante Versano (Michele Morrone), but Emily unexpectedly invites her to the wedding on the island of Capri as her maid of honour. Though she has every reason to distrust her deceitful former friend, the concept of a wedding in one of the most beautiful locations on the planet is too hard to pass up, and soon Stephanie finds herself surrounded by fellow mafiosos and even Emily’s bitter ex-husband Sean (Henry Golding) at a wedding where, almost inevitably, people start dying horribly.

Like the first film, Another Simple Favour relies significantly on the immense watchability of its two leads for any of it to work, and when you have both Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick on-screen together at any time, fireworks erupt (sometimes literally). The actors have such a delightfully antagonistic chemistry with one another here as you can feel their deep resentment for each other being masked by layers and layers of passive-aggression and back-handed compliments, which they’re so good at delivering that the insults sting just a little bit harder than they’re written to be. Lively is, of course, the constant highlight as she flaunts her character’s borderline eccentric confidence with such a sparky attitude that ensures she’s always serving c-word whenever she’s present (which thankfully is much more than last time), though Kendrick equally deserves her flowers for putting in a performance where she’s firmly committed to some of the film’s more physical set-pieces while still being a fairly formidable foil to the growing chaos around her.

Feig’s firmly polished direction is similarly pleasing, as he once again finds a fair balance between numerous light and dark tones that remarkably don’t manage to awkwardly overlap. When the film is meant to be comedic, it is just that, and when it wants to dip into more sinister territory, such as when certain people are rather gruesomely murdered, it lets certain moments play out in all their surprisingly uncomfortable glory. Working from a script by Laeta Kalogridis and Jessica Sharzer (the latter having also co-written the first movie), the director is able to bring out the darkness in this otherwise gorgeous location where it’s permanently sunny and cloud-free, captured by John Schwartzman’s pristine cinematography that does a good job of making these grimmer moments feel authentic to this otherwise comedic universe, all without feeling as though an entirely different movie has taken over.

But while the film is an entertaining caper with healthy charisma on both sides of the camera, it’s hard to ignore that the central mystery this time round is a lot more ridiculous in both concept and execution. Beyond the fact that it’s relatively clear who the person behind everything is as soon as they show up, being played by one of the only other recognisable faces among the cast which is an immediate sign that they’re here for more than just a throwaway part, it involves a twist that’s straight out of a soap opera, which in fairness the first movie took a similar route but not only did it make more sense in that narrative but it also wasn’t thrown in as a late gotcha moment that relies heavily on people making the right assumptions at the most exact inconvenient moment. It’s not as smartly layered or executed this time round, as Feig and sometimes even the two leads aren’t quite able to distract from the lack of decorum in Kalogridis and Sharzer’s script which threatens to descend into farcical nonsense by the time things begin to wrap up.

The crux of its problems lies firmly in a script that doesn’t entirely add up, because nearly everything else about Another Simple Favour works as a decent sequel that leans hard into what made the original film so memorable. And one of those things is Blake Lively who, current litigious issues aside, remains a formidable screen presence in a role wherein she radiates charisma at every opportunity, and looks hella fine while she’s doing it.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Another Simple Favour is a sequel that leans into what worked about the 2018 original, from the tonally consistent direction of Paul Feig to the charismatic lead turns by Anna Kendrick and especially Blake Lively, though a much flimsier central mystery keeps it from touching its sturdier predecessor.