A Simple Favor

A Simple Favor

Starring Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells

Directed by Paul Feig

The Story:
Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) is a widowed single mother who hosts a vlog about parenting and cooking, and is overly active in her son's life.  She's the first to volunteer for everything, making the other parents look bad in comparison, but she does it out of sincerity and humility.

Then she meets Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), the mother of her son's friend, and the two women couldn't be more different.  While Stephanie shops at Target, speaks nicely, and dresses modestly, Emily is a fashionista who lives in a rich house and curses like a sailor.  The two unlikely women become fast friends, and for both it seems that this is their only friendship.

Then one day Emily asks Stephanie to pick up her son from school, and she's not heard from again.  Emily's husband Sean (Henry Golding) and Stephanie hold a desperate search for Emily, while the townspeople begin to wonder if there's foul play in Emily's disappearance.

The Synopsis:
"Secrets are like margarine: easy to spread, bad for the heart."

Thus is the opening line of this Paul Feig-directed thriller comedy that somehow manages to fully encapsulate both genres in a way that theoretically shouldn't be possible.  Feig, best known for directing comedies like "Ghostbusters," "Spy," and "The Heat," tries to take on a more serious tone with "A Simple Favor," while still maintaining a sense of comedy throughout.

Based on a book by Darcey Bell (but not totally based, as even though I don't read much, I saw that there were a lot of differences between the book and movie, but that's not very surprising), "A Simple Favor" is a throwback classic mystery noir enveloped in a comedic blanket, with two fantastic actresses at the center.  Widowed single mother Stephanie is your picture-perfect mother, always volunteering, always caring, always loving.  She meets Emily, a wealthy professional woman whose son is friends with Stephanie's, and the two women become friends from that.  Everything Emily is is everything Stephanie isn't, and the two women couldn't be more opposite.  One day Emily goes missing, and Stephanie makes it her goal to find her best (and only) friend no matter what. 
 
Anna Kendrick stars as Stephanie, and she's practically made for the role.  As a single mother who's also a vlogger, Stephanie encompasses the typical over-achieving parent - she's the first to volunteer for everything, dresses in Gap and Target-bought clothes, and refers to swear words as "oopsies."  She's basically Martha Stewart without the evil, and her bubbly, perky personality is something that Kendrick has naturally, and she fully releases it here.

Equally, Blake Lively shines as Emily, in a role Lively hasn't really gotten a chance to play before.  Emily is a multi-layered character, a woman with a boat-load of secrets, someone who seemingly has it all together on the outside but slowly unravels inside.  Lively gives Emily a perfect blend of steely resolve and deadpan humor, and her on-screen chemistry with Kendrick is undeniable.

The fashion in the film is something amazing that was beautifully done.  Emily often wears fashionable, expensive clothes that shows off her body, while Stephanie dons neck-to-leg clothes that pretty much cover every inch of her body, and wears clothes from the Gap and Target, which she's ridiculed for by Emily's fashion designer boss.  The costumes here are just as important to the story as the script itself, and both girls absolutely own it.

The first half of the film is the strongest point, until Emily disappears.  As Emily's secrets come to light, the film delves into a Nancy Drew-wannabe, and while Stephanie is enjoyable and can easily own the film in her own right, Emily still dominates the screen even though she's not in it.  As Stephanie tries to solve the mystery, she slowly becomes enveloped by Emily's life, especially her husband Sean.  This leads the film to delve into generic stereotypes, typical events that you could see coming miles away, and an ending that's so strangely put together, I still can't tell if it's good or not.

The ending of the film is where it slightly goes off the rails, involving a final shocking moment that seemingly comes from nowhere, like there was a whole section of film that got lost on the cutting room floor - or, more likely, purposefully not included to give us that final "gasp" inducing moment.  Either way, it kind of detracted from the finale as a whole, and became more like the ending of a "Scooby-Doo" episode.

That's not to say the film is terrible, but quite the contrary: it's very memorable for all the right reasons.  The performances of Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively is perfection, the story does involve several twists and turns, but it's all done for the sake of comedy.  Basically, the movie I can closest compare it to is "Gone Girl" - if it was directed by Judd Apatow.  While I thought "Gone Girl" was pretentious and overly long, I was thoroughally entertained by "A Simple Favor," and would be a film I would watch again.  It doesn't take itself too seriously, but just serious enough to draw us into the story and keep us heavily engaged in the mystery unfolding before our eyes - and that's the perfect blend to keep my attention, even if they're slightly contrasting.

The Summary:
Somehow finding a way to balance serious and comedic, Paul Feig brings his own unique flair to "A Simple Favor," a film that's surprising and exciting from start to finish, keeping you on your toes as well as causing you to laugh several times throughout, held by strong performances by Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively.

The Score: A-