‘Another Simple Favour’ review: dumb fun in the sun for Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick

If a sequel can’t be sharper than the original, it may as well be sillier. That seems to be the credo driving the preposterous follow-up to 2018’s A Simple Favour, director Paul Feig’s sleeper hit about toxic besties in Connecticut.

This time around, the action takes place on the stunning island of Capri, which allows Feig to dial up the glamour to distract us from plotholes. The high camp visual of Blake Lively slinking down a staircase in an outrageously large sun hat certainly papers over one of them. However, the screenplay by Jessica Sharzer (who also wrote the original) and Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island, Terminator Genisys) really starts to creak in its final act – it’s never a good sign when a film suddenly introduces a secret triplet.

But by then, Another Simple Favour has built up enough goodwill to keep you invested, thanks largely to game performances from Lively and co-star Anna Kendrick. Internet detectives reckon they don’t get on in real life, but their onscreen chemistry is seriously sparky. They’re a blast as two very different women whose relationship is based on mutual usefulness and a slight sexual frisson.

It begins five years after the first film, which ended with Lively’s PR director Emily Nelson being sent to prison for murdering her father and sister. Though her mummy vlogger friend Stephanie Sommers (Kendrick) helped to put her away, Emily isn’t holding a grudge.

So, at a launch event for Stephanie’s true crime book about Emily’s escapades, she’s upstaged by her old frenemy, who’s been released from prison early. Obviously Another Simple Favour doesn’t really explain how she got her sentence truncated: we’re just told Emily has excellent lawyers hired by her new fiancé – Dante Versano, a mega-rich mafioso played by Michele Morrone from the risible 365 Days franchise.

Emily duly invites Stephanie to her nuptials in Capri, tempting her with the prospect of irresistible social media content – won’t her followers be gagged that she’s partying with the woman she got banged up? Though Emily may have reservations about marrying into the mob, she hasn’t lost her queen bee sting. At the wedding, she coolly introduces her ex-husband Sean (Henry Golding) to Dante as her “babymama”.

When Sean is found dead in his hotel room, Stephanie is convinced Emily killed him – well, she does have form, after all. It’s neither the last murder nor the last abrupt tonal shift. Thankfully, everyone involved seems to be relishing the sheer ridiculousness of it all.

Feig is known for working with fantastic female comedy actors – he directed 2011’s women behaving badly classic Bridesmaids and 2015’s Spy, a superior Melissa McCarthy vehicle. So, in a smart move, he drafts in the reliably excellent Allison Janney to play Emily’s Aunt Linda, who has the most ludicrous character arc of all.

Do we need Another Another Simple Favour? Probably not, but if this stupidly enjoyable sequel takes off on social media, don’t bet against Emily and Stephanie teaming up to take down the mob.