A Simple Favour (2018)

Review by CJ

Director:
Paul Feig

Starring:
Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding

Other notable appearances:
Andrew Rannells, Kelly McCormack, Aparna Nancherla, Linda Cardellini

Running time:
117 minutes

Watch this if you liked:
Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, Single White Female

 

Stay at home mum Stephanie (Kendrick) befriends high-powered executive mum Emily (Lively) and the two form an unlikely bond despite their differences. When Emily goes missing, Stephanie takes it upon herself to find out what happened to Emily and discovers she didn’t know her friend as well as she had hoped.

A Simple Favour does a good job of combining a contemporary thriller with a comedy. I wouldn’t call it a mystery because most of the main twists can be spotted a mile away by viewers familiar with the genre but the execution ensures that they are still entertaining. 

Kendrick and Lively both deliver brilliant performances. The layered characters that both actresses portray are fun to watch. The stand out performance for me though is Andrew Rannells. Rannells is only in a handful of scenes but every one, in particular the last, is funny and delivered with Rannells’ signature sass.

A Simple Favour isn’t the best thriller of the year and it does leave some questions unclear or unanswered. However, if you enjoy a thriller with a bit of humour and don’t mind a couple of plot holes, then A Simple Favour is a good film for a rainy day. 

Rating:

“Oh, you don’t want to be friends with me. Trust me.”