AUSTIN – Credit where credit is due, there’s something almost impressive about how “Another Simple Favor” not only doubles but triples down on the incest jokes that were present in the first film. Though a bit broader in terms of the other comedy beats it goes for, never let it be said that this sequel is dialing back on the darkly absurd sense of humor and general feeling that was central to the original that it was constantly messing with you. While their respective plots essentially bind each in a way that holds them back from becoming more explicit parodies or something approaching a biting satire, there is something delightfully depraved to how much the first, as well as many parts of this second one, throws itself into one wild swerve after another.
The trouble is that this obligatory-feeling sequel to the wonderfully silly 2018 thriller is only half the fun of its predecessor despite feeling twice as long. Even as there are a handful of playfully cheeky acknowledgments of the fact that this new entry doesn’t make a lick of sense (with one character saying “just go with it” to paper over another asking some pretty reasonable questions serving as the guiding ethos), this isn’t enough to fix what is a fundamentally meandering movie. While Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively bring plenty of focused comedic wit to returning director Paul Feig’s more freewheeling farce, their commitment to the bit can only carry it so far. This is especially true when said bit, already wearing thin, is stretched to a breaking point without much of anything new to sink your teeth into. It’s not a disastrous sequel by any means, and fans of the original will likely find it fun, though they would be best served by sticking with the original.
This all opens in a rather clunky fashion with a video of mommy vlogger turned amateur sleuth Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick), who is bringing us up to speed on a crisis she has found herself in. Specifically, she got caught up in a murder in beautiful Capri, Italy, where the recently released Emily (Lively) invited her to be her maid of honor at her wedding. We then flash all the way back to before this (an already tiresome and overused framing device that only marks the start of the film’s pacing problems) to see how both of them got here. Stephanie has been struggling with guilt over a recent investigation that ended in a traumatic death, a superficially strained relationship with her son, and the fact that her new true crime book has not been selling as well as she would like. Enter Emily, who boldly struts into one of her local book events in an appropriately absurd introductory scene and offers her the chance to come away to Italy for “the wedding of the decade” as she marries a handsome new man who is almost certainly involved in illegal activities. Still, after hemming and hawing about whether she should go, Stephanie is drawn back in despite her curiosity (as well as the demands of the plot) to return to Emily’s orbit.
READ MORE: SXSW 2025 Preview: 20 Movies & Series To Watch
There are familiar faces, including a scene-stealing yet regrettably brief performance by Henry Golding as Emily’s alcoholic and cartoonishly angry ex-husband, as well as plenty of new ones who we get to know along with Stephanie. As written by Laeta Kalogridis and Jessica Sharzer, the best bits are when characters go at each other without it feeling too much like we’re getting the hurried intros to some murder mystery. Yet “Another Simple Favor” still mostly feels like it wants to be a more twisty thriller in the vein of something like the recent “Glass Onion,” only to get too caught up in scenes that drag on and on. Where the first film proved to be light on its feet and genuinely unpredictable, this one never finds that flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants energy as it often telegraphs what it is going for with such obviousness that you wish it would just get to it already. It is also frequently stiffly directed, with one scene involving a recurring drone shot looking over the edge of a cliff so many times that it almost becomes comical, making it that much harder to get swept up in the shenanigans. It somehow remains both oddly undercooked and blunt, leaving you mostly just trying to hold onto the fun performances.
Thankfully, that’s where “Another Simple Favor” can almost save itself. Not only are both Kendrick and Lively clearly having a ball reprising their roles, they’re also having fun taking the piss out of the whole thing. They take the comedy seriously and fully lean into some of the best bits, with the most fun coming from how Stephanie is constantly dropping snarky lines about the possibility that she herself might get murdered, just as Emily practically tells her that she will do just that. One line delivery from Lively where she basically spells out how she hopes nobody was around other than Stephanie to see a sudden violent attack is so gleefully fun that you can’t help laughing at it. Even just the way she’ll walk into a room and the increasingly elaborate fits she wears give the film a spark that manages to shine through frequently. It’s a shame that what sparks of playful silliness the film finds ultimately get smothered under so much excess. You wish that the delightful duo was given something more deserving of their talents.
Though not alone in this, “Another Simple Favor” is a sequel that never makes a case for its existence. It’s many of the same jokes that serve less as callbacks and more as reminders of how much more fun the first film was. Sure, the bits are now playing out against the backdrop of a picturesque locale, though nearly every gag is drawn out to the point that it grows dull rather than cutting. That it seems to be trying to turn the series into its own version of the actually thrilling “Mission: Impossible” movies where the phrase “A Simple Favor” is a pseudo-reverential one that sets up what could be more sequels is almost ridiculous enough to work. Still, it comes so near the end that you’re already burnt out by how much it ran everything into the ground. In the end, despite winning leads that you enjoy in fits and starts as they bounce off each other, it’s an inescapably forced sequel whose greatest sin is how few favors it does its cast. [C]
“Another Simple Favor” had its World Premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. It will be available to stream starting May 1 via Prime Video.
Follow along for all our coverage of the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival
.
