Strolling into Canton’s movie theater, my mother at my side, and popcorn in hand, I sat down in the cracking leather seats and waited for Paul Feig’s newest film “A Simple Favor” to grace the screen.
I had very high expectations for this movie. I mean, if you are going to put Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively in the same movie, I’m going to expect it to be good. Although it was not what I had anticipated it to be, “A Simple Favor” was simply great. The film casts Anna Kendrick as Stephanie: the young, overachieving mom that all the other parents hate, and Blake Lively as probably the worst mom ever. Lively’s character, Emily, is not your typical bad mom though.
She’s not just running late to pick up her kid or ordering pizza every night for dinner or has a gambling problem. As her husband Sean (Henry Golding) says, Emily is an “enigma.” She literally has a nude painting of herself in her living room, drinks several martinis a day, and then fakes her own death for life insurance money. But she claims to have done that for her son, Nicky. Yeah, sure, Emily.
However, Emily is not the only one with issues in this movie. Stephanie, in all her attempts to portray herself as a perfect little widow and saint, is anything but innocent. SPOILER ALERT: After Stephanie meets her estranged half-brother at their father’s wake, she ends up sleeping with him. I almost choked on my popcorn in the theater. And after telling Emily this, she refers to Stephanie as “brother-f*cker” for the rest of the film. This was one of the highlights of the movie.
But it doesn’t stop there. There’s also drama concerning Stephanie’s husband’s and her half-brother’s death in a car accident, in the same car, together, at the same time. Was that clear? Hint hint: Murder-suicide.
Anyway, after Emily’s “death,” Stephanie sleeps with and then MOVES IN WITH Emily’s “widowed” husband Sean. Emily had just died a week before! WHAT IS GOING ON? Don’t get me wrong, I lived for the drama but you can’t tell me this isn’t a lot to take in.
Also, side note and spoiler, the woman who plays Blake Lively’s twin looks nothing like her, and I could tell it wasn’t her even if her face was supposed to have been morphed from lake water. I know Blake Lively when I see her, people.
Overall, I loved this film. It was basically Blake Lively being extra for two hours, and I was there for it. Also, the addition of Henry Golding to this film was amazing. You can’t tell me you didn’t fall in love with him after seeing “Crazy Rich Asians.”
Anna Kendrick was also a surprise after her “Pitch Perfect” phase went on a little longer than anyone was expecting. However, I was really impressed by everything, especially Emily’s outfits. But I will tell you right now, this movie was anything but simple.
Rating: 4 green M&M’s