Movie Review: A Simple Favour - “The Perfect Combination of Thriller and Comedy”

Source: Gonewiththetwins

A Simple Favor is a movie that keeps you at the edge. With a fantastic cast, diverse characters, and a mind-blowing backstory, this movie has it all. This movie is dark in a sense you would have never guessed and it contrasts with the nature of the character's personality. With fabulous music and stylish clothes, this movie ticked all the boxes.

Introduction

Movie name - A Simple Favor

Directors name - Paul Feig

Genre - Mystery, Comedy

Language - English

Synopsis - Non-Spoiler Alert!

A Simple Favor is based on the novel of the same name by Darcey Bell. Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Linda Cardellini, Rupert Friend, and Jean Smart star in this movie. This movie follows the story of a widowed single mother, Stephanie Smothers who runs a vlog featuring crafts and recipe hacks for parents.

Every other parent at her son’s school considers her a pushover so when she meets Emily Nelson, the mother of her son’s friend they immediately hit it off. Emily also works as a PR director for a Fashion company and once they both exchange confessions over martinis.

Stephanie confesses that she as a teenager had sex with her half-brother, Chris. At the same time, Emily tells her about her frustrations regarding their poor financial condition which is well hidden, and the lack of her husband’s success.

Once, Stephanie babysits Emily’s son while Sean is in London and after two days of not being able to reach her, she finally decides to visit Emily’s boss, Dennis Nylon. The latter tells her that Emily is in Miami. Stephanie then calls Sean who contacts the police and they all try to find Emily, she also makes a missing person flyer of Stephanie.

Detective Summerville who was in charge of the investigation finds out that Emily lied about going to Miami and that her drowned body had been found in a lake at the summer camp in Michigan. Summerville also tells Stephanie that Emily had severe liver damage and a copious amount of heroin was found in her system. Meanwhile, Stephanie consoles Sean and they get into a sexual relationship.

About the Director

Paul Samuel Feig born September 17, 1962) is an American actor, film director, comedian, and filmmaker. He is known for directing films starring frequent collaborator Melissa McCarthy, including Bridesmaids (2011), The Heat (2013), Spy (2015), and Ghostbusters (2016). He also directed the black comedy-mystery film A Simple Favor (2018) and the romantic comedy film Last Christmas (2019).

As an actor, Feig is best known for playing Tim the Camp Counselor in the comedy film Heavyweights (1995). He also appeared as Bobby Wynn in the sitcom The Jackie Thomas Show (1992–93) and as Mr Eugene Pool in the sitcom Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1996–97).

Personal Verdict

A Simple Favor is a movie that can boast about the amazing cast and their fabulous acting. Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick do a fantastic job at keeping a certain level of darkness that their characters required to keep us hooked. The story has many twists and turns so much so that it will keep you guessing throughout. The story is gripping and the climax is just worth watching I love a good comedy/thriller.

Quotes

“Some men lash out and leave marks, the black eyes and broken noses that send women to the emergency rooms and from there to the kindly social worker and the battered women’s shelter. But the real devils are the ones who hide the traces, who practice constant psychological abuse until the woman is all but destroyed.”
“My mother used to say: Everyone has secrets. That’s why you can never really know anyone else. Or trust anyone. It’s why you can never know yourself. Sometimes we even keep secrets from ourselves.”
“Sweet Stephanie. You’d be amazed by what people will do. Things they’d never admit to anyone—not even to themselves.”

Bottom Line:

A riveting, gripping movie and worth watching.

I would rate this movie 4 on 5.

You can watch it on Netflix.

Written by - Aayushi Kumari Singh