Another Simple Favor
Synopsis: Two frenemies circle each in Capri; one may want to murder the other.
Sometimes you’re just living your best life, doing your own thing, when some hater tries to destroy your life. For example, you just want to promote your new movie and your new haircare line. However, you are plagued by a former costar who accuses you of lying. You’ve stated that their unscripted kisses and sniffs were unwelcome.
Or maybe you just want to marry your cute mobster fiancé and skip out on bail. Unfortunately, your former neighbor keeps reminding everyone that you are a murderer. Alleged murderer.
One of the above scenarios is about Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni lawsuiting each other about behavior on the set of their movie, It Ends with Us. Blake’s legal team claims a 78% drop in sales of her haircare brand Blake Brown Beauty. I’m not sure how you’d arrive at such a specific number. Anyway…
The other scenario involves Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick’s characters from Another Simple Favor, a sequel to 2018’s A Simple Favor. Blake played Emily, a glamorous neighbor to new-in-town Stephanie (Anna Kendrick). When Emily disappeared, Stephanie investigated, convinced that Emily has killed someone to enrich herself.
In Another Simple Favor, Emily continues manipulating people and Stephanie continues to be suspicious of her former frenemy who is now just an enemy.
Several years have passed since the events in the last story– okay, I couldn’t not be hyper aware of Emily and Stephanie actually being glamazon Blake and scrappy Anna K., owing to the paper-thin characters. So, from here on they are just Blake and Anna K. Alright…
Anna K. has gone from vlogging about homemaking to vlogging about crime. She’s also written a book about Blake’s crime/s and trial. She’s remained in the same town and stayed friends with Broadway dynamo Andrew Rannells– I mean, stayed friends with Darren, the dad of one of her son Miles’ friends. Being a good friend, he attends a reading at a small local bookshop. Things get melodramatic when Blake shows up!
Just like in the last movie, they start in with snarky repartee. Blake says she’s out on bail or maybe a technicality (so glad her feud with Justin Baldoni is a civil, not criminal case) and getting married. She’s divorced from her cute husband Sean (Henry Golding), and is engaged to Dante Versano (Michele Morrone). Blake has no friends –unlike Blake, who has Taylor Swift and Gigi Hadid as friends–so, she asks Anna K to be her maid of honor. Anna K doesn’t want to go because she is afraid that Blake will try to kill her. But Blake says if she doesn’t accept the bridesmaidship, she will sue her. Art imitating life?
The best thing about this is that the wedding will be in Capri! This is another good reason for Anna K to go to the wedding, even though she is still afraid of Blake. But Blake gets what she wants.
Justin Baldoni said that Blake bullied him into changing a scene in It Ends with Us by having him intimidated by the presence of her husband Ryan Reynolds and ‘mega celebrity” Taylor Swift. See? Blake gets what she wants.
Anna K jets off to Capri, bringing along her book agent, Vicky (Alex Newell). She figures Blake will not have the nerve to kill her if her agent is by her side as a witness. I was hoping that Andrew Rannells would go along too, but I guess even rich people don’t want their invited guests to have more than a plus one at a wedding. At least he will be close by if there is an emergency with Anna K’s son Miles (Joshua Satine) who is conveniently booted off to camp.
So glad that the filmmakers got us to Capri with its beautiful land and seascapes. The hotel is also gorgeous, with lots of marble and great views of the sea. You will probably not be surprised to hear that the movie is not good enough to sustain viewers if it were set in, say, Lubbock, Texas. (I don’t think that Blake would care for staying in a Red Roof Inn there.)
Blake and Anna K conversate at the pre-wedding festivities, insulting each other with smiles plastered on their faces. In one scene, they admire the ocean view whilst standing at a low wall overlooking a cliff. Blake can’t stop joking about how she might throw Anna K over the cliff. But Anna doesn’t move away from the cliff like a normal person, instead she protects herself by throwing verbal barbs at Blake. Sure, this is all normal behavior between a bride and her maid of honor.
Blake’s fiancé divides his time between PDAs with Blake and arguing with his mafia rival Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor), who is also a 30ish good looking, muscled guy.
Meanwhile, Anna K follows Blake into town. You’d think she’d never lose sight of her because Blake is wearing a sunhat that is as big as a table-for-four. But Blake somehow slips away. Looking around Anna K spots a woman at a cafe who looks like Noah Cyrus without the bleached eyebrows. Anna K has seen this same woman following her back at home in America. She confronts Fake Noah Cyrus, who reveals her identity. We don’t know if she can be trusted, but we figure she will turn up again.
The night before the wedding, Blake has a bachelorette party at the hotel’s pool. Anna K is the only guest and there are about a thousand candles lighting around the pool. It’s pretty romantic. Anna K seems a little scared, but she can’t resist the proffered booze. Maybe the drinks are made with Ryan and Blake’s hard and soft bevvie brands.
Expect fireworks at the wedding; literally and figuratively. And Blake doesn’t disappoint in her wedding gown choice. Of course it’s outrageous, made of white pleather with a long train whose edge looks like it was dipped in blood. The blood-dyed fabric will def make for good small talk at the reception.
Did I mention that Blake’s ex (Henry Golding) is at the wedding with their son, Nicky (Ian Ho)? The ex hates Blake and so does the groom’s mother, Portia (Elena Sofia Ricci) who gives off strong lady mob boss vibes. There are some other people at the wedding who hate Blake as well. Maybe she should’ve eloped.
What about Anna K… does she hate Blake? Is Blake trying to murder Anna K?And if they hate each other so much, why do they keep hanging out? It’s a toxic co-dependency, imo. In any event, IRL, Anna K doesn’t have to be afraid of Blake. At least I don’t think so…
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