A Simple Favor - Review

A Simple Favor

Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air, Pitch Perfect and The Accountant), Blake Lively (The Town and The Shallows) and Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) star in a film whose central plot turns on a single simple question many of us have asked in one form or another. You know that slightly casual subconscious utterance framed in the form of a question to our most closest, most trustworthy of friends to do something for us on the spur of a moment……, “Hey, can you do me "a simple favor", can you pick up some wine and ice?". ……. "Can you pick up my mail and newspapers?"………"Can you walk the dog for me, the key is under the door mat?".........And the most famous and precious of favors, "hey can you pick up my kid from school?"........... The only difference with the last “favor” request is most people don’t just simply ask the favor and then disappear without a trace, without a single clue for the spouse, the family and or their place of work employer. But in Director Paul Feig's latest “A SIMPLE FAVOR” someone does in fact disappear and its the  turning point in one of the more deliciously stylish films I have seen this year.

REVIEW: Plot wise this is one of those rare films the less I say the better. Everything you need to see it is in the upper paragraph and its readily accessible movie trailer. What I will say is Director Feig (Bridesmaids and Spy) manages to craft a very solid story mystery much in the structure and manner that was typically popularized in the 1960s and 1970’s. Not so much in feature films per se, but very much common place in some of the more successful weekly TV shows such as Peter Falk’s “Columbo”,  Angela Lansbury’s “Murder She Wrote”, Andy Griffith’s “Matlock”, and James Garner’s “The Rockford Files”. 

Specifically, Feig's revisits a nostalgic way of story telling in the "not too serious who done it” formulaic mode that is very modern and contemporary in its look and attitude that feels uniquely fresh and applicable to today’s audience. At the same time it executes its own story by allowing the audience to laugh and being amused by its clever lighthearted quirky sexy journey........... I did say sexy right?

“Running 1:55 minutes  the plot overall is dark, creepy and weird, but in that wonderfully creepy, weird and even sinister “wink - wink” kind of way. The movie has fun with itself by keeping the audience on it's subconscious guessing toes as we watch Stephanie (Anna Kendrick), the goody two shoes mommy YouTube health food cooking “vlogger ” interact with her super sophisticated sexy, perpetual Martini drinking best friend Emily's (Blake Lively). Throughout the entire film they energetically and rhythmically joust with each in some real heart to heart girl talk. The interplay as actors between Kendrick and Lively is both skillfully rich and dare I say “lively” banter that on one moment was predictable fun to a turn on a dime catapult of mind twist Q and A exchange that was intriguing, sinister and just sexy to have experienced...............I did say it was sexy, right?..........”Oh yeah, baby yeah baby………rowwww, sexy”.

Overall, “A Simple Favor” is an outlandish shocking comedy. And while there are a few moments where the story gets a little murky, choppy in its transition with an ending that was slightly deflating, even a tad corny, I certainly did not care. My experience with this rock solid very entertaining film was an edgy contemporary look, almost on a DNA level, of what friendships and trust with someone today uniquely means or could mean, especially when that special someone asks you on the spur  .............”Hey can you do me a simple favor”.

Do yourself a simple favor, see this............... Did I say it was sexy?

3.75 Stars