A Simple Favor

I consider movies with Blake Lively my private guilty pleasures. I'll check out Darcey Bell's book, but I definitely wouldn't be interested in a thriller like this without the movie. However, as a spectacle based on the contrasting talents of Blake and Anna Kendrick, it was a treat. A treat for the eyes. (07/03/2022)

A non-alcoholic version of Gone Girl for a less demanding or, if you want, weekend audience. The lightness and briskness is taken care of by the geeky Anna Kendrick and the sexy Blake Lively. Both are excellent, it's just the script and the plot that are questionable. That said, as a light crime-comedy it’s still bearable. (02/04/2019)

A gripping variation on a clever female thriller, which is not lacking in a nice pile of surprises. Behind almost every completed subchapter there is a hidden hook that pulls the viewer further in, towards another fitting twist or genre change. This is mostly thanks to Anna Kendrick, who after years finally shines to the fullest in a role written for her in almost every one of those genres, even though the detective story one, which it switches into completely at the start of the third act, is definitely the weakest. As a satire, a thriller, a tale of hinted shadows from the past, and last but not least, in terms of sexiness, Kindness surpasses the highly acclaimed Gone Girl. Unlike that film, it is not afraid to be surprising and visually alive. (05/21/2019)

It's a shame the film wasn't a bit more comedic and that the humor started to veer away from seriousness and attempts at suspense as time went on, because both actresses are amazing and the potential was great. Given that Paul Feig decided to use (almost) only French songs, he might as well have made something in the style of French comedies. (07/28/2020)

Sometimes things just work out. The sweetly absent-minded Anna, the incredibly attractive fox Blake, the accurately underrated curiosity, the successful balance between serious and purely entertaining intrigue, and a good mood that helped me ignore the shaky motifs and enjoy the story. Simple Favor relies on the contrast of the two female leads, which becomes blurred under the weight of the events, while the script humorously plays with the rejoinders and the findings of the beginning and doesn’t stop until the last scene, which borders comedic insanity, but completes that game mode more or less successfully. Please, more of Anna and Blake in the cinema, and it could be with fewer clothes on. 75% (12/20/2018)