A Simple Favour – Film Review

Cast: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding

Director: Paul Feig

Synopsis: Single mother Stephanie (Kendrick) meets and befriends high-flying Emily (Lively). When Emily suddenly disappears without warning, Stephanie investigates the circumstances surrounding her disappearance…

Review: When any person goes missing without a trace, there is bound to be a plethora of questions surrounding that particular person’s disappearance. As a consequence of something like this, an intense media scrutiny can begin to surface as to what transpired. The impact of which often falls hardest on those that knew the person the most, but what if they knew more than they were letting on? 

An intense media furore is certainly something that director Paul Feig can certainly relate to, with the fierce backlash that ensued following his Ghostbusters reboot. However, in this interesting concoction of thriller meets comedy, that forensic media glare takes a backseat. Instead, the camera that we partly watch this story unfold from is the webcam belonging to single mother and vlogger Stephanie. When picking up her son from school, she crosses paths with the chic Emily who is also on the school collecting run. Though they are in many ways complete opposites, they form a close connection and become good friends. When Emily disappears one day after asking Stephanie to pick up her son from school, Stephanie starts to piece together the clues of what might have happened to Emily. 

As a director whose last few films have all had female leads, but in very much comedic central films, this is uncharted territory for Feig. As such, he has left behind frequent collaborator Melissa McCarthy and recruited Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively as his leading women this time. Kendrick as Stephanie has something that is very quirky and charming about her, but there is more to her goody mummy vlogger persona that she is letting on. Likewise for Lively as Emily who may dress in a suave manner, but there are some sinister secrets about her past also. Both give excellent performances, playing off each other tremendously well, though ultimately it is Lively who ends up stealing the show from Kendrick as well as her husband Sean (Henry Golding). 

The film pitches itself in a very Gone Girl-esque manner, and the screenplay from Jessica Sharzer certainly tries to capture that grittiness and suspense that Gone Girl had in abundance. While it does achieve this to a certain extent, it is nowhere near as compelling nor suspenseful as David Fincher’s aforementioned thriller. Unfortunately while trying to balance the comedic element of the story with the dark and gritty nature, there is a little bit of a mismatch when it comes to the overall tone of the film. Furthermore, by the time the film reaches the third act, it all feels a bit too rushed. As such the suspense that has been built up in the preceding two acts, is completely squandered on a finale that just packs so many twists and turns, it feels like a classic case of less would have been more. 

For all the excessive twists and turns that the film offers, one thing that it certainly is not lacking in is style. Feig certainly brings this to his direction in a suitable manner that befits this stylish backdrop. There’s a very aesthetically pleasing visual style to aspects such as product design, and it is evident that no expense was spared on the costumes either, especially when it comes to Emily’s attire. However what the film brings to the table in style, it doesn’t deliver in terms of providing a truly gripping and unnerving thriller that just doesn’t pull as many punches that past films of a similar nature delivered in abundance. 

Stylish in its design, and bolstered by two assured leading performances, but a mismatch of tones and one too many twists result in a thriller that just doesn’t deliver many thrills.