Another Simple Favor: The Simplicity Caught A Boat Away From This Island

This film from Amazon Prime follows the same characters as its predecessor, just a few years later. Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) is experiencing some success as a detective when her ex-best friend, convict Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), announces that she wants Stephanie to be the maid of honor in her upcoming wedding in Capri to a wealthy Italian businessman (Michele Morrone). What follows are a series of twists and turns as Stephanie has to decipher Emily's true intentions while discovering who's behind multiple murders on the island.

The movie pleasantly surprised me at first. It began as an entertaining watch, comedic at the right moments, with twists that were successful at leaving me dizzy. I wanted to know more, uncover the secrets that were undoubtedly being kept from me. But then, the plot started devolving, giving me so much whiplash I kept audibly questioning what I was even looking at. The subsequent scenes became so implausible and unexpected that I was left a little disappointed. (Cue the Tyra Banks meme: "I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you!"). I understand the intention of wanting to surprise an audience, but doing so just for the sake of being different is not a good enough reason. It ended up lacking the realism which catapulted the first movie to fame.

With recent creation and distribution of movies being faster than ever, I feel like there's minimal genuineness demonstrated on screen that didn't exist in previous decades. I unfortunately felt that here, where a lot of the acting appeared really stilted, uncomfortable, and lacking connection. Some scenes were intended to be awkward, as a group of characters who regarded each other with either wariness or open hostility were forced to convene together. But during emotional moments where that disconnect wasn't supposed to be felt, I did.

On the simple note, Anna Kendrick was a standout. She played Stephanie very well, immersing herself in the nuances that distinguish the character: her overprotective motherly instincts, her unquenchable desire to discover the truth, and her bubbly personality. Kendrick has great comedic timing, mastering how a person like Stephanie would navigate the unbelievable situations she finds herself in. She was great in a movie that left much to be desired; love her or hate her, she definitely does her job well. As for the rest of the cast and production team for this movie, my thoughts are a bit different.