June 22

2018 saw the release of a movie that caught the world by surprise. A Simple Favor was directed by Paul Feig and starred Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick in a black comedy/mystery that was really clever and creative. In 2025, Amazon Prime streamed a sequel to the film, Another Simple Favor trying to catch magic once again.

I will say that this sequel is not as great as A Simple Favor, but it is entertaining as well.

According to IMDB, “Stephanie Smothers and Emily Nelson reunite on the island of Capri, Italy for Emily’s extravagant wedding to a rich Italian businessman, which is interrupted by murder and betrayal.“

Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) becoming an author of true crime books and an online vlogger about other cases she investigated worked well for the character. Part of the key to the success of the original was the clever dialogue and interactions and this kept Stephanie active in that part. Then, with Emily’s unexpected return from prison and immediate reinsertion into Stephanie’s life, the film started to keep the audience on its toes with what was about to happen.

Allison Janney appeared as Emily’s Aunt Linda, and she provided her acting chops to a story that does get crazily weighed down with weird story elements.

The key to the film is the banter between Lively and Kendrick. This is the strength of the film as their dialogue is crisp and funny. Their barbs back and forth keep you guessing about what is actually going on with a convoluted story.

The story itself is really not great. It turned out to be more of a parody of the first film than anything else. There are so many bizarre choices that it made me wonder if that was the overall purpose of the sequel.

As an Amazon Prime streaming film, this is fun. A solid watch on a Sunday afternoon. There is a reason why a sequel to a surprise hit was not released in the theaters. It is because the film is not strong enough for that. However, I did enjoy this on the power of the two lead actresses, even when they are in the most ridiculous, bordering on stupid, situations.

3.2 stars