A Simple Favor Review

I’ve wanted to see this movie since it was first advertised because it reminded me of a movie that I had seen a long time ago called Passion. I had seen the original Love Crime in French, yes I watch foreign films, and then had seen the US version Passion. While I thought both movies were lacking something, this movie seemed similar and seemed different all at the same time and it was a movie that I just couldn’t pass up. Did it live up to my expectations or did it just fall flat like the previous two movies? Keep reading to find out.

A Simple Favor is about Stephanie, played by Anna Kendrick, who is a single mom. Not by choice as her husband and brother both died in a tragic accident and left her a widow. She’s the mom that does it all though and even runs her own mommy vlog where she gives mommy tips. She’s that annoying woman at school who signs up for everything and is trying to be the perfect mom. She’ll soon befriend Emily, played by Blake Lively, who has it all. She has the perfect job, the perfect house, and the perfect marriage and family. Or so it seems. Both women are hiding dark secrets as this soon odd couple become best friends over the course of a couple of days and martini’s. The suspense kicks in when Emily asks Stephanie to pick up her son Nick and watch over him because she has something important to do. This is fine because Stephanie’s son and Nick are great friends and this is no big deal as she’s doing a favor for her best friend. This all leads to Emily suddenly disappearing and finally ending up floating at the bottom of a lake. Things will seemingly go in Stephanie’s direction though as she soon starts to have it all as she fills in as Nick’s mom and fills in as Sean’s, played by Henry Golding, new wife. Things take a turn for the worse those as Nick starts to see his mom and so does Emily. What’s actually going on in this twist of a movie will blow your mind and is right up there with the likes of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.

I thought this movie was just awesome. I loved it from start to finish and was just blown away by the whole plot of the movie. It was quite different from what I expected it to actually be and by the end, even though I thought I had it all figured out, I didn’t. I love when movies do that! I just love it. Anyway, this movie will have you guessing until the very end as it’s full of suspense, and actually a few laughs as it poses as a thriller / dark comedy of a movie. I enjoyed the unlikely friendship of these two complete opposite women and enjoyed watching their relationship grow and then turn into something toxic. I have to say that I also enjoyed this brand of dark and twisty that this movie gave to its watchers as you really didn’t know who the bad guy was. Was it Emily? Was it Stephanie? Was it Sean? You just didn’t know until the very end. I also liked how the movie completely wrapped up and no stones were left unturned as you even had a recap of how everyone’s life was going after the movie ended. This was a surprising turn of events movie and it’s one that I would see again.

I have to say that Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively just make this movie. They have this amazing onscreen chemistry and just play their parts to perfection. No two actresses could have made this movie better as they were the perfect picks for each role. I liked watching Anna Kendrick go from this mousey single mom, who was hiding a dark secret, into this complete badass while Blake Lively went from this badass, who was also hiding a dark secret, into just a psychopath in the matter of two hours. Kudos go out to both of these women because they truly made this movie awesome.

Overall I give this movie a 5 out of 5.

A little gratuitous at times with the sex scenes, they weren’t anything overly awkward but just unnecessary, I thought this movie was an absolute gem of a movie. Like I said I thought I had this whole movie figured out the minute Emily went missing, and smirked my way through the movie waiting for the big reveal only to be surprised myself. A huge kudos for the movie for doing that. This movie will not bore you and was worth the two hours that this movie will take to watch. I would recommend this movie if you liked movies like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. I was also pleasantly surprised that this movie wasn’t like Love Crime or Passion and stood by itself. I would say to give this movie a chance and if you don’t catch it in the theaters at least rent it when it becomes available because you won’t be disappointed.