Director: Paul Feig
Distributor: Belga Home Video
Duration: 117 minutes
A Simple Favor (DVD) – Movie Review
At times it feels like we’re drowning in remakes, reboots or sequels of old movies, making it hard to look past the regurgitated mess that is getting released. While this statement may be somewhat crude, it’s somehow true that the inspiration seems to have dried up the last few years, by either rebooting a famous franchise, making it politically correct, or remaking an old movie, or releasing a sequel for said old movie, simply to please older fans, to justify rereleases or simply to drive up the sales numbers with something that used to be a success. We were glad to see A Simple Favor’s trailer which felt like something new, especially seeing it was something mystery related with Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick in the lead, the latter being somewhat known for otherwise ‘clean’ movies.
Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) is a very committed mother, so much that she annoys the hell out of other parents as she seems to be the picture perfect person, who engages herself for every school activity and volunteers to help every time. When her son, Miles (Joshua Satine) asks for a play date with his friend Nicky (Ian Ho), she needs to ask Nicky’s mother, Emily (Blake Lively) first. Emily is doing the PR for a big fashion company, and she is never really present when it comes to ‘school stuff’. Emily first isn’t fond of the whole play date idea, but after inviting Stephanie over, things seem to click between the two ladies, and they slowly start spending more time with each other, calling themselves best friends. Stephanie also meets Emily’s husband Sean (Henry Golding), who seems to be slightly more normal than Emily.
Emily seems to be a loose cannon at times, telling her boss to fuck off, drinking martinis at noon, not wanting a photo of her taken, and so on. When Emily asks Stephanie for a favor, to pick up Nicky from school, things turn quite odd as Emily disappears into thin air. Later, when Emily turns up dead, things turn into something bizarre, as the kids claim to have seen Emily around their school. It seems that there are many unexplained events going on, especially now that Stephanie is getting closer with Sean.
The flow of the movie is somewhat pitch perfect as you’ll get introduced to the setting properly, and the mystery that ensues unfolds quite delightfully. You’ll properly get to know the three different characters, one a bit more mysterious than the other but the character development in this movie is superbly handled. This tale is all about Stephanie, Emily and Sean, and truth be told, we love it that way. Stephanie evolves in a Nancy Drew-esque fashion, while Emily and her past stay hidden until it starts to matter for the story. Sean is somewhat of an extra in the ladies’ evolving story, but if the movie should have been thought of without him, things would fall flat before the grand finale occurred.
As stated above, the movie pretty much revolves around three different characters, which are portrayed by Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively and Henry Golding. The two leading ladies could not portray a more different character creating a big contrast on the screen, that works perfectly for the movie. Anna Kendrick might be somewhat stuck in her goody two-shoes persona for a while, but she evolves to a tough and mean lady by the end of the movie, making the character development very interesting. Blake Lively offers us the mysterious portion of the equation, while Henry Golding is there to pick up the pieces, and keep a certain love triangle intact.
On the DVD edition of A Simple Favor you’ll find plenty of special features. There are loads of extra commentaries, deleted scenes, a gag reel, how the story came to life, even a snippet about the fashion choices in the movie, segments about a flash mob and so on. Overall, while commentaries have to be your thing, you’ll find more than enough extra content to extend your experience with the movie. It has been quite some time since we last saw this many extras on a DVD release.
Conclusion
A Simple Favor is by no means a simple movie, as it has a very interesting and somewhat complex plot and the character development is quite exquisite to say the least. If you’re into mystery or crime movies with a touch of dark humor, then this movie will certainly provide you with a fun evening. The cast does a superb job in bringing everything to life, and after the credits start rolling, there are plenty of special features to be found on the disc.
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