When I reviewed “A Simple Favor” in 2018, I gave it an 8 out of 10, with praise for stars Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, as well as director Paul Feig.
Now, seven years later, we get “Another Simple Favor,” a sequel that makes me wonder why, after waiting so long, they couldn’t come up with something better than this dreck. It’s one of those movies where you can see everyone involved trying way too hard.
What was it that made successful actors want to be a part of this? It couldn’t have been the script. Screenwriters Darcey Bell and Jessica Sharzer, who carved such a clever plot the first time around, have overstuffed this one (with help from Laeta Kalogridis) with a dumb story, insipid dialogue, and situations so ridiculous it’s as if they never saw the original. By the way, if you haven’t seen the original, you’ll have no idea what’s going on for most of this movie.
Perhaps everyone got involved in “Another Simple Favor” because they wanted to spend time on the naturally stunning Italian island of Capri, the venue for most of the movie, which cinematographer John Schwartzman captures nicely. But that beauty doesn’t serve as enough of a distraction from the nonsense taking place in every single scene.
Not only are Kendrick and Lively exhaustingly over the top, but Alison Janney and Elizabeth Perkins are completely wasted, which should be a federal criminal offense. In addition, there are other supporting characters who not only don’t belong there, but aren’t given anything interesting to do.
I’m not even going to bother explaining the story to you because I’m afraid I might accidentally say something that would make you want to waste two hours of your life. But I will spoil one aspect of it: the character played by Henry Golding, who is now Lively’s ex-husband, is killed about a third of the way in, which is a good thing because he’s a terrible actor who adds nothing at all. I wish I could tell you the movie gets better after that, but it doesn’t.
“Another Simple Favor” is going to be hard to beat when I compile my Worst Movies Of 2025 list, because I’m only giving it a 1 out of 10.
It starts streaming on Amazon Prime Video tomorrow.