Vol. 12, No. 1 – Oct 10 – Oct 23, 2018 – Movie Review

A Simple Favor
Movie Review: 3 Palm Trees out of 4 Palm Trees

by Victoria Usher

A Simple Favor is a 2018 film directed by Paul Feig. Screenplay by Jessica Sharzer. Based on 2017 novel by Darcey Bell. Cinematography by John Schwartzman. Music by Theodore Shapiro. Film Editing by Brent White. Produced by Paul Feig, Jessie Henderson, Mike Drake, and Jason Cloth. Costume design by Renee Ehrlich Kalfus.

The film stars Anna Kendrick (“Pitch Perfect”), Blake Lively (“Gossip Girl”), and Henry Golding (“Crazy Rich Asians”). It is a mystery, thriller, and it has some fantastic surprising comedy thrown into the mix as well. In the film, Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) are two suburban mothers who meet each other at the school that both of their sons go to. Despite their obvious differences, they very quickly become close friends. Stephanie is an extremely kind, upbeat, and perfect stay at home mother who runs her very own and very popular mommy vlog. Emily is mysterious, gorgeous, always dressed to kill fashion publicist with a past she would like to keep buried. The two women start spending some time together, they get to know each other a little better, and they share a few secrets with each other. Everything seems okay until one day Emily suddenly goes missing. Stephanie decides that she is going to take it upon herself to figure out what exactly happened and find Emily. But once Stephanie begins her investigation she very quickly gets pulled deeply into Emily’s twisted and dark past, which in turn forces her to open her eyes and face her own dark past.

I believe that what truly keeps you on the edge of your seat while you are watching this film are the main cast and their amazing performances. Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively were brilliant choices for this movie. They have wonderful chemistry when they are on screen together. The way the two of them playoff of each other works extremely well. It was an unexpected but successful and welcoming duo. Both of their characters different personalities made their friendship on screen even more exciting and intriguing to watch.

My main complaint would be that after watching the entire film and thoroughly enjoying the well thought out and thrilling plot line, the ending of the film that was chosen was very anticlimactic and disappointing. But other than that, it is a film that kept me guessing and that I without a doubt enjoyed watching.

Rated: R Running Time: 1h 59m

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