Latest news with #SimpleFavor
New Indian Express
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
OTT review 'Another Simple Favor': All style, little substance
When a sequel for Paul Feig's A Simple Favor was first announced, the biggest excitement surrounding the return to the mommy-world of Emily (Blake Lively) and Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) was, unsurprisingly, stitched to the sartorial choices of the leads. And this time around Emily's mid-century style quotient meets Stephanie's accidental espionage in the picturesque island of Capri, Italy. Visually, the film is a total treat. However, in an attempt to make it more than just another sequel, Feig dives headfirst into a sea of plot twists and murders, and Stephanie does so much sleuthing that even Hercule Poirot and Benoit Blanc might roll their eyes. Let's just say this time around, the cast and crew who left Connecticut for Italy, were joined by this little thing called subtlety. With the Simple Favor films, the audience has no option but to willingly suspend their disbelief. So when Emily, aka Hope McLanden, walks out of prison after serving just five years, you don't bother making sense of the legal loopholes. Emily invites Stephanie to her second wedding—this time to mafia-macho-old-money-hottie Dante Versano (Michele Morrone, playing a surprising softie compared to his 365 Days alter ego). Much like the first film, Feig takes his time introducing the central conflict. While the snail-paced world building might have been less bothersome initially, thanks to the visual extravaganza that is Capri, our patience wears thin. With two murders, a heavy use of drugs, a suspiciously large inheritance, an estranged sibling, and more chaos brought into the picture, even Emily's abnormally large hats and clunky heels aren't enough to distract us from the delayed conflict resolution. Fortunately, there's a positive twist to all this. Blake and Anna return with strong performances, breathing even more life into Emily and Stephanie, respectively. Take, for instance, the scene where Stephanie is injected with a truth serum. Her awkward candidness completely takes over the proceedings, and Anna delivers a compelling performance. Blake gets the chance to go beyond Emily's icy perfection, peeling back layers to reveal something darker and far more sinister. Her diabolism and deep-seated psychological issues come as a chilling surprise. Dialogues are another highlight of the film, which has a convincing supporting cast. The witty quips not only make us laugh but also help us momentarily forget the film's many flaws. While Feig seems confident about spinning more sequels out of this world, maybe it's time he does himself a simple favour and moves on to fresher, meatier ideas. Because at this point, the franchise isn't twisting; it's just going in circles in high heels.
Daily Mail
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Blake Lively selectively shares GLOWING comments on Another Simple Favor despite the VERY mixed reviews online
Blake Lively gave her fans a very selective view of the reaction to her new film Another Simple Favor over the weekend. The 37-year-old actress shared multiple posts to her Instagram Stories on Saturday highlighting viewer reviews on the social media site Letterboxd, which lets users log films they have seen and review or rate them. Blake — who is in the midst of a brutal legal battle with her former collaborator Justin Baldoni — chose to highlight some glowing reviews from fans, but the over-the-top reviews didn't give a full picture of the mixed reviews the Simple Favor sequel has received from critics — and even everyday viewers. All of the reviews Blake shared screenshots of gave the film — which features returning costars Anna Kendrick and Henry Golding — the max rating of five stars, along with a heart to 'like' the film. But over on Rotten Tomatoes, which determines a percentage score of the number of positive reviews from critics, Another Simple Favor only has a 67 percent rating from all critics surveyed. When only the most prestigious critics at major publications are considered, the rating drops further to 62 percent, though it is still technically Fresh. On Instagram, Blake posted a still of herself in a pale blue feathered dress with her costar Michele Morrone, who appears as Dante, the man her character Emily marries early in the film. 'Fantastic give me 14 of em right nowww,' gushed one fan in all caps. 'They keep GOING THERE and I LOVE IT,' enthused another person. 'God I love these movies so much this had no right being this FUN. Also I love movies that are bold and campy and know it. I loved everything about this,' wrote one fan, who begged for the films to be made into a trilogy. 'Just yes. Everything about this movie is a yes,' wrote another satisfied customer in their review. 'And Amen to Blake and Anna.' A second post featured even more effusive reviews from fans, and Blake wrote, 'These reviews are brilliant.' But the reviews weren't in keeping with the film, which has an average star rating of 2.5 from viewers, with a plurality of viewers giving the film three out of five stars. Only three percent of people who logged a star rating, around 1,200 people, gave the film five stars, making the people Blake singled out part of a small minority. Although Letterboxd doesn't have the same public profile as IMDb, and therefore isn't as likely to fall victim to concerted campaigns by obsessed fans or disgruntled haters, the platform doesn't verify that users have seen the films that they're rating. On another popular review aggregation site, Metacritic, the picture is even less rosy. Unlike Rotten Tomatoes, which only derives a rating based on whether reviews are positive or negative, Metacritic gives higher scores to more effusive reviews, while more modest praise and outright pans receive lower scores. Another Simple Favor received a score of 55 based on 20 critics' reviews, indicating significantly less enthusiasm among critics than the Rotten Tomatoes score might suggest. Among the 20 reviews surveyed, a whopping 55 percent are categorized as mixed, while only 40 percent are positive and five percent are negative. Unlike the 2018 original film, which was released in theaters and earned an impressive $97 million against a $20 million budget, Another Simple Favor was released directly to Amazon Prime streaming, so there's no meaningful way to compare the grosses or the number of people who paid money to see the picture. Several critics found the new movie more 'strained' and over-the-top than the original, even in otherwise positive reviews. The new film finds Lively's character Emily planning a wedding in Capri, Italy, while out of prison on an appeal. She turns to her former friend Stephanie (Kendrick) to be her maid of honor, but she is once again pulled into a plot involving deception and murder. Despite the less-than-stellar reaction to the movie, the film's director, Paul Feig, suggested he would be up for a third entry in the series. Feig, 62, said, 'I definitely know where I want it to go,' though he would have to wait to 'see if everybody wants to do a third one.' 'It was too much fun — I would love to get back together with this group and these characters and send them on an even weirder, international adventure, if possible,' he said while speaking with People. Despite some of the criticisms of how far out the new film goes compared to the more modest and realistic original, Feig suggested the next entry to go even broader. 'I think we need to take them out into the world even more,' he said. The release of Lively's new films comes after she filed an 80-page civil rights complaint with the California Civil Rights Department against her It Ends With Us director and costar Justin Baldoni on December 20, before officially filing a federal lawsuit on December 31. In December, Lively sued Baldoni amid claims of sexual harassment during production of the motion picture. In her lawsuit, the Gossip Girl alumna accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her in multiple ways — including body shaming her — and orchestrating a smear campaign against her to damage her reputation. Baldoni and his reps have said in response to the lawsuit that Lively twisted the meaning of text messages and mislead the public about their interactions while making the motion picture. In her lawsuit, Lively named a number of Baldoni's collaborators, including his company Wayfarer Studios, the studio's CEO and financial backer, and PR personnel Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel. 'I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted,' Lively told The New York Times the day after she filed the complaint. Baldoni subsequently sued the newspaper for $250 million in a defamation claim over a December 21 story titled '"We Can Bury Anyone": Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.' The newspaper has denied the allegations. Baldoni on January 16 filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and her publicist Leslie Sloane, alleging defamation and extortion. Baldoni told the court the trio had concocted 'false accusations of sexual harassment' against him. Since Lively's complaint was filed, Baldoni has faced a number of professional consequences, including a lawsuit from a former publicist; and being dropped by the agency WME, which also reps Lively and Reynolds. WME has denied claims that Lively and Reynolds leaned on them to release Baldoni from their client roster, according to Variety. Lawyers for both parties were in accordance with a plan to compound both federal cases filed into one moving forward. It Ends with Us, which also starred Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Brandon Sklenar and Kevin McKidd, arrived in theaters August 9 and was a hit with audiences. The film, adapted from the 2016 Colleen Hoover novel, earned $148 million in domestic box office, and $350 million globally, according to Box Office Mojo. Lively broke out with the 2005 movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants opposite Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel and America Ferrera. That led to her high-profile role on the TV show Gossip Girl, which she starred on from 2007-2012, playing lead character Serena van der Woodsen. She has also appeared in movies such as 2010's The Town, 2016's The Shallows, 2018's A Simple Favor and 2020's The Rhythm Section. Prior to It Ends with Us, Baldoni was best known for playing the role of Rafael Solano on the TV show Jane the Virgin from 2014–2019. He also has directed films including 2019's Five Feet Apart and 2020's Clouds, and penned the 2021 book Man Enough, which tackled misconceptions of contemporary masculinity.
Time of India
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
I definitely know where I want it to go: Paul Feig on 'Simple Favor' 3
(Picture Courtesy: Facebook) Director Paul Feig says he is up for making the third "Simple Favor" film and knows where he wants to go with the story. Feig recently directed " Another Simple Favor ", starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively . The film is a sequel to 2018's "A Simple Favor". "I definitely know where I want it to go. We'll see if everybody wants to do a third one. It was too much fun, I would love to get back together with this group and these characters and send them on an even weirder, international adventure, if possible," he told entertainment magazine People in an interview. The story of the first film took place in small-town Connecticut, whereas the sequel took the characters to the island of Capri. Feig said if the third film is made, the characters are needed to be taken out in "the world even more". "I think we need to take them out into the world even more." "Another Simple Favor" began streaming on Prime Video on May 1. It also stars Michele Morrone.
News.com.au
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Blake Lively's absolutely wild sex scene in Another Simple Favor
Anyone who watched the first Simple Favor movie shouldn't be surprised to hear that the sequel, Another Simple Favor — which began streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Thursday — comes with a splash of incest. After all, one of the many twists in the 2018 dark comedy thriller (spoiler alert!) was that Anna Kendrick's character, Stephanie, slept with her brother, and possibly had a child with him. That led to Blake Lively exclaiming one of the film's most memorable lines: 'Brotherf**ker!' Obviously, Another Simple Favor had to live up to that dark, scandalous reveal, and then some. Directed by Paul Feig, with a script written by Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis, this sequel picks up seven years after the events of the first movie. Emily is fresh out of prison (some murder, some attempted murder, no biggie) and newly engaged to an Italian dreamboat. She's planned an extravagant wedding on the isle of Capri, and she wants Stephanie as her maid of honour. Stephanie goes along, in part to boost her follower count, and in part because Emily threatens to sue her. Just girlfriend stuff! Warning: Major spoilers for Another Simple Favor ahead. Seriously, stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled. Let's get this out in the open: Blake Lively has sex with herself in Another Simple Favor, and yes, it's wild. After both Emily's ex-husband Sean (Henry Golding) and her new husband Dante (Michele Morrone) are mysteriously murdered, Stephanie dusts off her detecting skills. She uncovers that Emily's supposed stillborn triplet, Charity, is still alive. We learned in the first movie that Emily's real name is Hope, and that she was a triplet, but that one sister died in childbirth. (The second sister, Faith, was killed by Emily.) But it turns out, Charity isn't dead. She was stolen by Emily's Aunt Linda, raised in complete isolation, and was driven insane out of loneliness and abuse. All this brings us to the incest scene — or should I say, twincest scene — in Another Simple Favor. Charity (also played by Lively) shows up at Emily's hotel room, surprising her with her existence. With an armful of creepy dolls and a dreamy, childlike sort of insanity, Charity promises Emily she will 'fix everything' so that the two of them can be together forever. Before Emily can react, Charity injects her with a drug. Then Charity lies Emily's immobile body down on the bed, arranging her sister's limp arms around her in an embrace. In Emily's unwilling arms, Charity sweetly confesses to murdering Sean, and reveals her plan to kill Dante. 'I'm not your sister, I'm you. And you're me. And we're one,' Charity croons to her twin, stroking her hair. 'We don't need Dante or Sean or Stephanie. We don't need a woman or a man, we just need each other.' Then, Charity begins to walk her fingers down Emily's torso, as she says, in a breathy voice, 'I'm only ever going to make you feel good. So good. So good because it makes me feel so good. Do you want to see what I mean? Blink if that's OK.' The camera pulls back, so we don't see if Emily actually does blink or not. All we know is that Charity says, 'Yay! OK!' and then reaches her hand … down there. Maybe Emily did blink, maybe she didn't. But it's clear from her expression that this is, without question, a violation. But Charity keeps going. Emily, rendered motionless from the drugs, can only move her eyes. 'We're gonna love this,' Charity promises. 'We can feel so good at the same time.' Then she flips herself atop her sister, and promises they will have 'this' forever. She seals that promise with a kiss. Yep! That really just happened, and it's absolutely wild. The scene never gets more explicit than that kiss, but the implication is all too clear: Charity had sex with drugged-out twin sister. The movie walks a delicate line with this one. On the one hand, this is sexual assault, which feels quite a few shades darker than the movie's darkly comedic tone. On top of that, the abuser, Charity, is clearly the product of a lifetime of abuse. It's much harder to play this subject off as part of the heightened, delicious fun. Much easier to do that with murder! That said, I think Another Simple Favor does pull it off. This scene is relayed via a flashback, from Emily to Stephanie. Stephanie tactfully asks Emily if she's OK, which helps soften the blow. At least the movie took the time to acknowledge just how dark that scene was, before getting back to the fun stuff. And, of course, Stephanie couldn't resist hitting Emily with a line of dialogue that makes this whole thing feel inevitable and scandalous in the best way: 'Sisterf**ker!'
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Paul Feig Says He 'Would Love' To Do A Follow-Up To ‘Another Simple Favor': 'I Definitely Know Where I Want It To Go'
Paul Feig is open to yet another Simple Favor. The director of the twisty, campy crime dramedy and its recently debuted follow-up, Another Simple Favor, said he 'would love' to explore a threequel following Anna Kendrick's mommy vlogger Stephanie and Blake Lively's conniving con-woman Emily Nelson. More from Deadline 'The Chosen' Unveils Intense 'Last Supper' Trailer Depicting Jesus' Final Days; Sets Prime Video Streaming Date Amazon Launches 2025 Prime Experience Emmy FYC Event; 'The Boys', 'The Lord of the Rings', 'Étoile' & 'Cross' Among Featured Shows Jessica Biel And Elizabeth Banks Outrun A Murder, A Killer And The Truth In 'The Better Sister' Trailer 'I definitely know where I want it to go,' he told People in a new interview. 'We'll see if everybody wants to do a third one. It was too much fun — I would love to get back together with this group and these characters and send them on an even weirder, international adventure, if possible.' While 2018's original takes place in small-town Connecticut, this year's sequel takes its rivaling mothers to the breathtaking island of Capri, where Emily is getting married after having been released from prison. Though she goads Stephanie into being her maid of honor, the amateur sleuth is soon convinced that it's all part of an elaborate revenge plot. In terms of the setting for a potential third film, Feig said, 'I think we need to take them out into the world even more.' Speaking to Deadline earlier this month, Feig admitted that making Another Simple Favor required him to throw his personal filmmaking rulebook out the window. 'I don't do sequels,' Feig explained at the Contenders Television panel for the film, noting that he's long resisted helming a sequel to megahit Bridesmaids. 'Sequels are hard … Audiences, I think, got burned by a lot of sequels. And so the big question for an audience is always, 'Why do I need to see this?' And so you've really got to be able to answer that question.' He continued, 'This one just felt like, 'Oh, there is a way into this.' Everybody was like, 'How are you going to get her out of prison?' I'm like, 'Come on – Marvel brings people back from the dead. We can get somebody out of prison!'' Another Simple Favor is currently streaming on Prime Video. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery Brad Pitt's Apple 'F1' Movie: Everything We Know So Far Everything We Know About 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 So Far
