Film Review: ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR (2025): Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick Shine in a Comic Suspense Tale with Great Locations
Another Simple Favor Review
Another Simple Favor (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Paul Feig, written by Darcey Bell, Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis and starring Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick, Allison Janney, Elizabeth Perkins, Henry Golding, Joshua Satine, Mitch Salm, Andrew Rannells, Holmes, Aparna Nancherla, Kelly McCormack, Alex Newell, Bashir Salahuddin, Kate Rachesky, Taylor Ortega and Michele Morrone.
Anna Kendrick isn’t trying to get another Oscar nomination for her role as Stephanie Smothers in Paul Feig’s delightfully wicked, Another Simple Favor. Yet, Kendrick brings something to the table here that is special and gives the movie a personality that it would otherwise not possess. Sure, her co-star, Blake Lively, tries to steal scenes away from Kendrick playing Emily Nelson, but the picture has enough going on to let both of these stars run away with sequences that help define the tone of this movie which is set in Capri. An Italian backdrop wasn’t essential to the movie succeeding, but the locations are beautiful and whether or not the action is deserving of them, this film is a pleasure to look at (costumes included) while it’s hard not to be entertained by the performances by both Kendrick and Lively.
As the film opens, Smothers is struggling to maintain success with her latest book as Emily pops up again to further complicate an already delicate scenario. Once the action moves to Capri, there are plenty of enlightening scenes of interaction between Kendrick and Lively’s characters that include them shooting the breeze in the pool and, of course, the writers have some twists and turns to reveal that will make one question what Emily is really up to and whether or not Emily is actually the one up to it or not.
Of course, there is icing on the cake as one would expect from a director such as Feig who knows how to let distinguished, talented actresses do their thing. That “icing” turns out to be none other than Allison Janney who sinks her teeth into her role as Aunt Linda McLanden who has a few tricks up her sleeve and wants to make complicated things go away so she can have the life she so desires for herself. Janney is a baddie the viewer will love to hate thanks to Janney’s many talents.
One of my favorite scenes in Another Simple Favor is when Smothers is injected with truth serum before a character tries to bump her off to get her out of the way. Kendrick has a blast in this scene in the film as she lets loose and reveals comic touches to the role that I never knew she was capable of. Sure, she’s played in comedies like Pitch Perfect, but her vulnerability on-screen in this new movie is simply admirable and rather hysterical in the context of the elaborate plot the movie has to offer which includes a triplet that pops up which is probably something I shouldn’t reveal more of in this review.
Henry Golding is back for a small amount of time playing Sean Townsend and although his role is not without its intriguing moments, he wisely is written off-screen in order for the action to kick in and to let Smothers and Nelson exchange barbs and witty remarks that will make the viewer be unable to look away from the action no matter how preposterous the story line gets at times. This is probably one of the most “anything goes” sort of movies in terms of its soap opera-like script as people are knocked off for the convenience of the plot and saved for the benefit of the story line as well.
When Smothers asks an Italian maid to sneak her out of a hotel room so she can escape the cops, the maid comes back with a cart with a clear oversize bag that she would be immediately seen in. Smothers demands that the maid go and get another type of cart which can help sneak Smothers out of the room appropriately. This scene is so bonkers, but so perfect at the same time as Kendrick usually reveals her funny side in order to serve the logistics of the very inane, but enjoyable, plot.
Another Simple Favor wouldn’t be as strong as it is if Lively didn’t, pardon the expression, liven things up with surprising developments in the film’s story that involve Lively hamming it up for the sake of the soap opera-like elements that unfold within this movie. Feig either worked with Lively and Kendrick to perfection or just let these two incredibly talented stars have free reign over their characters. Neither would surprise me.
Almost all of the characters who come together in Capri for the wedding of Lively’s character end up involved in the premise in one way, shape or form. This review wouldn’t do the reader justice by explaining each character’s function in the plot. I will say the side characters are just gravy for the already star-studded powers that are Lively, Kendrick and Janney. There are other interesting characters in this movie (Elizabeth Perkins’ Margaret McLanden comes to mind), but like a good soap opera, we watch mainly for those twists and turns that make that extra secret child or lover a guilty pleasure for the viewer to behold.
Kendrick and Lively are clearly having a blast together and the audience should as well whether they regret watching the movie afterwards or not. Of course, the film ends with someone asking a key character for another “simple favor” suggesting there could be another movie in this series which I would probably be more than willing to watch.
Rating: 7/10
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