A Simple Favor: Nailed it!

I imagine A Simple Favor was intended to be as neat and pretty as the stuff Anna Kendrick bakes in the movie. The movie is basically a mash-up of two genres: mystery and quirky, screwball comedy. From the start, both seem to work pretty well, and I was laughing along with the crowd I watched the movie with (all 2 other people) within the first 15 minutes. So, the quirky, screwball comedy part checked out initially and drew us in. Once one of the main characters goes missing early on and the mystery surrounding her sets in, it’s also pretty fun to figure out what happened and what secrets the movie is setting up for you. The ingredients were all there for a pretty spectacular and insane final product. And…well, that’s where it goes right off the rails into something so bad that it reminded me of those cakes from Nailed It (that show where terrible bakers try to make artistic desserts).

Elaborating too much on the plot isn’t something I can really do in this review without spoilering it. The premise begins with a geeky mom, Stephanie (Anna Kendrick), who befriends another mom at her son’s school, Emily (Blake Lively). Emily is the exact opposite of the timid, down-to-earth Stephanie, as she drinks heavily, works a high-profile job in fashion, swears all over the place, and manipulates people at a whim. Their friendship is mostly played for laughs at how different the two are, which is probably what made the movie so appealing at the start, since they both have a pretty fun chemistry together. Unfortunately for the audience, their friendship is cut short as Stephanie is asked to pick up Emily’s kid after school one day and realizes that Emily is missing, which sets Stephanie off on a quest to figure out what happened. That all happens early on, so it’s not messing with what happens later on, but it gives a good idea of what you’re dealing with if you do choose to watch A Simple Favor.

To fairly judge this movie, I don’t even think you need to know the rest of what happens. They mix in mystery with a performance from Anna Kendrick that’s mostly comedic, somewhat dramatic, and altogether likable. There are enough twists and turns to keep you invested as the story plays itself out in real-time and in flashbacks that explain what happened. It’s the endgame that was really a problem for the movie that wastes all the mystery and suspense built up over an hour—the writers were building towards something big and then they pooped all over it. The film doesn’t raise any dramatic stakes, mixing in too much quirk at the end, and flops all over the place, not sure how to really tie the strings together to make something coherent that shocks the audience. The only thing really keeping you watching is Anna Kendrick; she keeps the whole thing moving along as she gets feistier and feistier. Damn, though, if that ending isn’t some cake that looks beautiful when someone competent makes it (think those old 80s or 90s thrillers) but looks like it was smushed to an unrecognizable, dumb mess here.

Prior to watching A Simple Favor, I had heard good reviews but neglected to look up what the movie was about. I’m glad I ordered it online, as it was entertaining enough for a crowd of 3 to sit through the entire thing on a weeknight. It’s definitely not an 85% movie as Rotten Tomatoes would have you believe, though. It mashes two types of films together and presents something to you that’s half-finished, as if the writers didn’t have enough time to really flesh out the ah-hah! moments that a good mystery needs and coated it with comedy to hide some of those faults. I mean…I liked it, but only as much as someone who doesn’t know how to bake can make a gigantic volcano cake with dinosaurs and lava.