By Nick Nitkowski 

Sequels are the byproduct of a successful film. If a movie does well in the box office or at least exceeds expectations, there’s a good chance, almost a guarantee that a sequel will get greenlit and start production in order to capitalize as soon as possible. But often times, we do end up with sequels to movies that frankly didn’t need them. Movies like “The French Connection”, “Sicario”, “The Mask”, and “The Hangover” all come to mind. But one movie that definitely was not on anyone’s sequel radar was “A Simple Favor”. Successful and critically well-received? Yes, but it certainly didn’t call out for a sequel. But the minds behind Prime disagree because without we asked for it or not, we’re getting a sequel anyway entitled, “Another Simple Favor”. All we can do now is watch it and see how it performs.

I actually liked “A Simple Favor”. While not entirely perfect, it had a lot of intrigue, mystery, and, of course, comedy. I think Anna Kendrick carried the film well, and at the time, I thought Blake Lively did a good job as well for her roles as a manipulative character whose intentions are always shrouded in mystery Both return for the sequel along with some other faces, both familiar and new. 

The plot revolves around Stephanie Smothers, played by Anna Kendrick, who has become a famous author by writing a novelization of the events of the previous film. But when Emily Nelson, played by Blake Lively, returns from prison, tensions are on the rise when she invites Stephanie to her wedding in Italy. But when things go awry, Stephanie must once again uncover the mystery.

I will say that I did enjoy this movie… for the first half. Ignoring all the current controversies surrounding a certain actress, the biggest issue with this movie is that you can tell that the filmmakers are trying to come up with their own thing for this story. Darcey Bell, the author of the book of the same name that inspired the film “A Simple Favor”, did not write a sequel to it. So, as the movie plays, it’s very apparent that there was no source material to go off of. We all remember how well this method went for the last couple of seasons of “Game of Thrones”.

The movie’s amount of comedy skyrocketed in this one. It was a joke after joke after joke, which some of them did work for me over time, but as it continued, it lost that intrigue and mystery that made the first movie so appealing. There were even moments that treaded on pure ridiculousness that I found myself laughing at the movie instead of with it. Both Anna and Blake both provided some genuine comedic moments and some not so much.

Another issue with the movie, which is kind of nitpicky but also somewhat important, is that it makes the mistake that so many mystery movies do which is introduce new characters that are played by a well-known person, or at least a recognizable face that you’ve definitely seen in other movies before. They problem with this is that it makes the story very predictable. One of the clever things that movies like “Knives Out” or the remake of “Murder on the Orient Express” is that they went through the trouble of casting all well-known actors and actresses. Doing so makes it harder to determine the mastermind.

Overall, I didn’t necessarily hate “Another Simple Favor”, but there were definitely problems to be found here. Some good comedic moments, some not so good. In my opinion, it lacks the essence of the first film. It’s advertised as an original movie, which it technically is, but the IP that it’s based on is pre-existing. Unfortunately, I found the movie to be predictable, which is never a good thing for a mystery movie, and I did care for the ending nor the big reveal. Releasing it on a streaming platform is probably the best move for this movie because at its very best, I think it’s average as a mystery/thriller. If you’re a fan of “A Simple Favor”, there’s a chance that you can still find enjoyment out of this new installment, but as it stands for me, “Another Simple Favor” was just a little too Simple.

3 stars