A Simple Favour (2018) Review
5:42 AM
What happened to Emily?
This review contains spoilers.
This review contains spoilers.
Directed by Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) and written by Jessica Sharzer (Nerve), A Simple Favour is the film adaptation of the debut novel by Darcey Bell. Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect) and Blake Lively (The Shallows) star alongside Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians). "A woman seeks to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of her best friend". The film adaptation rights were acquired before the book was even published; is A Simple Favour the crowd-pleasing, water cooler flick that Lionsgate hoped it would be?
A Simple Favour is yet another example as to why nobody should read a buzz-worthy book knowing it is going to be made into a film. Paul Feig and Jessica Sharzer have made countless unnecessary, and major, changes that lack the same sophistication and impact as Darcey Bell's original novel. That being said, I did enjoy A Simple Favour and would likely be much more fond of it if I was unfamiliar with the source material. Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively give impressive performances and the twists are as exciting to watch unfold as they were in the book (the ones that are included anyway). Unfortunately, the book didn't quite become the phenomenon as similar thrillers like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train did and the film adaptation will likely see the same fate. A Simple Favour is a slick, twisted and satirical thriller.
Stephanie (Kendrick) and Emily (Lively) are both extremely complex characters with dark secrets and deceitful traits. This allows Kendrick and Lively to shine. Anna Kendrick gives her strongest performance to date. Her performance sets the tone for the entire movie; she flips from witty to romantic to serious to cunning. Kendrick gives a performance with layers. For the first time in a while, Kendrick is able to shred her Pitch Perfect image and get lost in another role; Beca the Barden Bella is gone and Stephanie the mum-vlogger, brother-f*cker has arrived. Darcey Bell wrote Stephanie as an unlikable and ambiguous protagonist - Kendrick's take on Stephanie maintains the character's positive image while still having the same dark secrets. Who would have thought the audience could still root for a protagonist whose half-brother is her son's father? Kendrick's performance somehow keeps the character likeable. In fact, Anna Kendrick is perfectly cast in this role; she excels at balancing dark humour with the seriousness of the circumstances. Kendrick's performance is the ideal match for Paul Feig's vision.
A Simple Favour offers Blake Lively the opportunity to impress in a role dissimilar to what is already on her resume. When I read the book, I imagined Lively as Emily and I couldn't be happier with her performance. Thanks to Lively, Emily remains an enigma throughout. During her scenes pre-disappearance Lively paints Emily as a stylish and wealthy woman. She shows a glimpse of her darker side when Stephanie takes a photo of her. Lively's performance as 'post-disappearance Emily' is scheming, calculated and innocently evil. She never has the same anger or rage as she does in the book (but that's down to the script not Lively). Lively could have delivered a performance as flamboyant as her wardrobe but instead opts for something a tad more nuanced. Jessica Sharzer's screenplay doesn't quite hit the mark when it comes to Emily. The book tells the narrative from each character's perspective, giving the reader an insight into everyone's minds. The film, however, tells the story from solely Stephanie's perspective, omitting some great moments of Emily's master plan. In some ways, Jessica Sharzer's adaptation undermines the character but luckily Blake Lively's performance keeps Emily interesting.
Its two leading ladies give terrific performances but the same cannot be said about A Simple Favour's leading man. Henry Golding recently impressed in Crazy Rich Asians. However, it has become apparent that Golding lacks any range as an actor. What came off as charming and dreamy in Crazy Rich Asians comes off as wooden and lifeless here. Golding's casting is great for representation but little else. There are many actors who would have played Sean Townsend better and I'm glad the film majorly altered the character because I do not think that Golding would have done Bell's version of Sean justice. Golding's chemistry with Kendrick and Lively is pretty unremarkable. Sharzer's screenplay changes a lot about Sean; he has a completely different job, Emily (and Stephanie) fail to stitch him up and he, therefore, doesn't have to flee the country.
Thanks to Darcey Bell (and partly Jessica Sharzer), A Simple Favour has a great narrative; it is twisted, surprising and wickedly fun. From the revelation of Miles's (Joshua Satine) actual father to the unveiling of Emily's masterplan, A Simple Favour is a guessing game until the last minute. Twist after twist, Paul Feig dig deeper into the cryptic lives of two complex women. Feig and Sharzer do an excellent job of realising the satirical tone that would be easy to miss reading the book. Feig's thriller blends suspense and mystery with irony and dark comedy. There's plenty of commentary on motherhood and the female gender. There is a running gag about how society has taught women to apologise for everything; it's poignant and accurate but also utilised well across the film. A Simple Favour is Bad Moms meets Gone Girl with a dash of The Real Housewives; an unlikely combination that succeeds!
*Rant alert*
Although Paul Feig and Jessica Sharzer have created a film that is entertaining, as the film delves deeper into the complicated lives of Emily and Stephanie, it moves further and further away from Darcey Bell's novel. When comparing A Simple Favour to Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, this is probably the weakest book adaptation; there are a countless amount of vital and needless changes. I enjoyed the film but I left the cinema feeling very irritated. Where to start? Well, the biggest change is the film's version of Emily's master plan. In the book, Emily and Sean have a joint plan to commit insurance fraud. Sean is in on the plan and has been told by Emily to ignore any reports that she is dead (he still mindlessly falls for Stephanie). The book reaches its climax with Emily brainwashing Stephanie to think that Sean is an abuser and the two women take him down. Bell leaves the narrative on a cliffhanger with Emily sending the police after Stephanie after they become suspicious of her. These are big changes; changes that I do not warrant necessary. Sharzer added the whole story about the fire in Emily's (and her twin's) childhood home and they were certainly not called Hope and Faith in the book. I could write a whole post about the differences between the film and the book but I'm sure there are plenty of Youtube videos and articles that have already done so. I don't mind that Stephanie is a vlogger instead of a blogger, it works better for the film media but it is irksome when an enjoyable book isn't brought to life as imagined. All of that aside, I understand that changes are sometimes necessary to make the story more cinematic and coherent for mass audience appeal.
Paul Feig certainly showcases his darker side with A Simple Favour. If only Jessica Sharzer's screenplay was more faithful and A Simple Favour could have been one of the best films of the year. There are sprinkles of Darcey Bell's original novel scattered throughout the film, especially as the twists unravel and the plot serpentines. Anna Kendrick gives her strongest and most interesting performance yet, proving that she can do much more than sing a song using cups. Blake Lively also impresses as a subtly unhinged and rather psychotic mother. This adaptation is a lot like Emily; it looks like the book, has the same corrupt characters as the book and has the same hook. However, as it progresses, it becomes clear that Feig and Sharzer have different surprises in store. Go in blind to A Simple Favour to witness its twists, satire and intensity as they deserve to be experienced.
Stephanie (Kendrick) and Emily (Lively) are both extremely complex characters with dark secrets and deceitful traits. This allows Kendrick and Lively to shine. Anna Kendrick gives her strongest performance to date. Her performance sets the tone for the entire movie; she flips from witty to romantic to serious to cunning. Kendrick gives a performance with layers. For the first time in a while, Kendrick is able to shred her Pitch Perfect image and get lost in another role; Beca the Barden Bella is gone and Stephanie the mum-vlogger, brother-f*cker has arrived. Darcey Bell wrote Stephanie as an unlikable and ambiguous protagonist - Kendrick's take on Stephanie maintains the character's positive image while still having the same dark secrets. Who would have thought the audience could still root for a protagonist whose half-brother is her son's father? Kendrick's performance somehow keeps the character likeable. In fact, Anna Kendrick is perfectly cast in this role; she excels at balancing dark humour with the seriousness of the circumstances. Kendrick's performance is the ideal match for Paul Feig's vision.
A Simple Favour offers Blake Lively the opportunity to impress in a role dissimilar to what is already on her resume. When I read the book, I imagined Lively as Emily and I couldn't be happier with her performance. Thanks to Lively, Emily remains an enigma throughout. During her scenes pre-disappearance Lively paints Emily as a stylish and wealthy woman. She shows a glimpse of her darker side when Stephanie takes a photo of her. Lively's performance as 'post-disappearance Emily' is scheming, calculated and innocently evil. She never has the same anger or rage as she does in the book (but that's down to the script not Lively). Lively could have delivered a performance as flamboyant as her wardrobe but instead opts for something a tad more nuanced. Jessica Sharzer's screenplay doesn't quite hit the mark when it comes to Emily. The book tells the narrative from each character's perspective, giving the reader an insight into everyone's minds. The film, however, tells the story from solely Stephanie's perspective, omitting some great moments of Emily's master plan. In some ways, Jessica Sharzer's adaptation undermines the character but luckily Blake Lively's performance keeps Emily interesting.
Its two leading ladies give terrific performances but the same cannot be said about A Simple Favour's leading man. Henry Golding recently impressed in Crazy Rich Asians. However, it has become apparent that Golding lacks any range as an actor. What came off as charming and dreamy in Crazy Rich Asians comes off as wooden and lifeless here. Golding's casting is great for representation but little else. There are many actors who would have played Sean Townsend better and I'm glad the film majorly altered the character because I do not think that Golding would have done Bell's version of Sean justice. Golding's chemistry with Kendrick and Lively is pretty unremarkable. Sharzer's screenplay changes a lot about Sean; he has a completely different job, Emily (and Stephanie) fail to stitch him up and he, therefore, doesn't have to flee the country.
Thanks to Darcey Bell (and partly Jessica Sharzer), A Simple Favour has a great narrative; it is twisted, surprising and wickedly fun. From the revelation of Miles's (Joshua Satine) actual father to the unveiling of Emily's masterplan, A Simple Favour is a guessing game until the last minute. Twist after twist, Paul Feig dig deeper into the cryptic lives of two complex women. Feig and Sharzer do an excellent job of realising the satirical tone that would be easy to miss reading the book. Feig's thriller blends suspense and mystery with irony and dark comedy. There's plenty of commentary on motherhood and the female gender. There is a running gag about how society has taught women to apologise for everything; it's poignant and accurate but also utilised well across the film. A Simple Favour is Bad Moms meets Gone Girl with a dash of The Real Housewives; an unlikely combination that succeeds!
*Rant alert*
Although Paul Feig and Jessica Sharzer have created a film that is entertaining, as the film delves deeper into the complicated lives of Emily and Stephanie, it moves further and further away from Darcey Bell's novel. When comparing A Simple Favour to Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, this is probably the weakest book adaptation; there are a countless amount of vital and needless changes. I enjoyed the film but I left the cinema feeling very irritated. Where to start? Well, the biggest change is the film's version of Emily's master plan. In the book, Emily and Sean have a joint plan to commit insurance fraud. Sean is in on the plan and has been told by Emily to ignore any reports that she is dead (he still mindlessly falls for Stephanie). The book reaches its climax with Emily brainwashing Stephanie to think that Sean is an abuser and the two women take him down. Bell leaves the narrative on a cliffhanger with Emily sending the police after Stephanie after they become suspicious of her. These are big changes; changes that I do not warrant necessary. Sharzer added the whole story about the fire in Emily's (and her twin's) childhood home and they were certainly not called Hope and Faith in the book. I could write a whole post about the differences between the film and the book but I'm sure there are plenty of Youtube videos and articles that have already done so. I don't mind that Stephanie is a vlogger instead of a blogger, it works better for the film media but it is irksome when an enjoyable book isn't brought to life as imagined. All of that aside, I understand that changes are sometimes necessary to make the story more cinematic and coherent for mass audience appeal.
Paul Feig certainly showcases his darker side with A Simple Favour. If only Jessica Sharzer's screenplay was more faithful and A Simple Favour could have been one of the best films of the year. There are sprinkles of Darcey Bell's original novel scattered throughout the film, especially as the twists unravel and the plot serpentines. Anna Kendrick gives her strongest and most interesting performance yet, proving that she can do much more than sing a song using cups. Blake Lively also impresses as a subtly unhinged and rather psychotic mother. This adaptation is a lot like Emily; it looks like the book, has the same corrupt characters as the book and has the same hook. However, as it progresses, it becomes clear that Feig and Sharzer have different surprises in store. Go in blind to A Simple Favour to witness its twists, satire and intensity as they deserve to be experienced.
69
/100
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