A Simple Favor<\/em> was a surprisingly delightful trifle that doesn\u2019t hold up well to scrutiny (except for the stitching on Blake Lively’s immaculately tailored suits). With its silly plot full of equally shocking dialogue and plot turns, Paul Feig’s movie was the cinematic equivalent of a thriller novel you breeze through on a beach, skimming a bit because the writing isn’t that great, but it’s still juicy fun. A Simple Favor<\/em> was blithe and bitchy, and it was able to coast on the pairing of Lively’s sleek, sophisticated Emily and Anna Kendrick’s seemingly sweet Stephanie. Their banter electrified the experience, making it easy to gloss over the script\u2019s logic problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s far harder to do that with its successor, where issues glint and glare like Emily\u2019s giant heirloom wedding ring from the previous movie. Another Simple Favor<\/em> begins years after A Simple Favor<\/em>, with Emily in prison for her many misdeeds (well, at least the legal ones). Without Emily (Lively), Stephanie’s life lacks sparkle. Her book about their friendship and Emily’s crimes isn’t selling like she or her agent, Vicky (Alex Newell), wish it would, and she hasn’t recorded a video for her channel in months. (We know this courtesy of Andrew Rannell’s Darren, one of the highlights of the first film who doesn’t get enough to do here.) However, when Emily struts into Stephanie’s under-attended book signing, she has … another simple favor to ask of her BFF: be her maid of honor at Emily’s wedding to a mysterious Italian man, a task made infinitely better thanks to the wedding’s setting in Capri. There\u2019s just the threat of Emily\u2019s vengeance and Stephanie\u2019s potential murder to keep it from being a real vacation. Stephanie stays alive, but other attendees start dying off, and it\u2019s up to Stephanie to use her crime-solving skills to figure out who\u2019s responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another Simple Favor<\/em> attempts to recapture the magic of the first film, but the only upgrade is trading the Connecticut suburb setting of the 2018 film for the island of Capri. A Simple Favor<\/em>\u2019s bubbly soundtrack of French pop is replaced by a smattering of Italian songs, none of which have the frisson of “Bonnie and Clyde” by Brigitte Bardot and Serge Gainsbourg. It isn\u2019t just the songs that lack brio; Emily\u2019s outfits aren\u2019t as good this time around. Costume designer Renee Ehrlich Kalfus switches out the subversive suits that Emily wore as a corporate girlie in favor of an Italian mob wife aesthetic. Her clothes are trashy, glam, and only mildly interesting, with only a few fits that work. (But when they work, they work<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet what\u2019s missed even more than style is a witty script. This round was written by Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis after Sharzer adapted Darcey Bell\u2019s novel for the first movie. Sharzer and Kalogridiscan\u2019t can\u2019t quite capture the charm that made A Simple Favor<\/em> such wicked fun, instead inserting more vulgarity in lieu of actual jokes. Saying the c-word twice in the span of a minute might shock some people, but the dialogue rarely gets the laughs they\u2019re aiming for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I saw Another Simple Favor<\/em> with a crowd at an advanced screening, and the theater was weirdly silent during most of the lines intended to be jokes. Meanwhile, when I rewatched A Simple Favor<\/em> from my couch a few days prior, I laughed out loud multiple times. Prime Video is releasing this one straight to streaming, so being surrounded by an oddly quiet audience won\u2019t be most viewers\u2019 experience, but I imagine it will still feel like something is missing when watching it at home. Despite the glamorous setting and clothes (and solid cast), Another Simple Favor<\/em> feels pretty cheap\u2014and it lacks the comic energy that typified Feig\u2019s best work in Spy<\/em>, Bridesmaids<\/em>, and even the first movie, which felt like a bit of a reach for the director at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lively and Kendrick aren\u2019t really to blame. There are a few flat line readings, but they\u2019re mostly delivering work on the level of the first movie, even if the script isn\u2019t. Other familiar faces return, including Henry Golding, Aparna Nancherla, Kelly McCormack, Bashir Salahuddin, and the two child actors Joshua Satine and Ian Ho. A few new ones appear, including Allison Janney and Elena Sofia Ricci, as well as Elizabeth Perkins, who steps in for Jean Smart, who has since added to her Emmy collection with her role on Hacks<\/em>. Most of these actors can at least occasionally rise above the material, but the exception is Michele Morrone, who plays Emily\u2019s groom, Dante. He\u2019s hot, sure, which is largely what was required of him for the Netflix early pandemic watch 365 Days<\/em>, when people would accept any substitute for human connection. Yet even for his lines in Italian, the actor is a handsome void who fails to communicate literally any emotion with clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Simple Favor<\/em> went down easy, as crisp and cool as Emily\u2019s famous martini. With its lack of charm and wit, Its successor requires a bit more effort. This is no longer the easy task of its title. Another Simple Favor<\/em> feels more like an arduous chore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n D+<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Another Simple Favor” is streaming today on Amazon Prime Video<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/another2-1024x1024.webp\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n