Spoiler Warning: This piece discusses major plot points from ‘Another Simple Favor’
What warrants a successful sequel? Is it taking everything that worked in the first iteration and cranking things up to 100? Or is it taking existing beloved characters and bringing them into uncharted territory? While some of the greatest sequel films in history like ‘The Godfather Part II’ and ‘Shrek 2’ managed to arguably surpass their predecessors in terms of quality, ‘Another Simple Favor’ seemingly mapped out almost everything correctly on paper – yet failed in its execution. Although it begins as a harmlessly entertaining follow-up to 2018’s ‘A Simple Favor,’ a confounding ‘jump-the-shark’ moment at the climax soured most of the viewing experience. ‘Another Simple Favor’s’ ultimate downfall? The franchise’s fixation on incest (yes, you read that correctly).
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There Are No Rules
Pretty much out of the gate, a certain suspension of disbelief is required if you want to enjoy ‘Another Simple Favor’ without getting bogged down by pesky details like logic or common sense. A convicted murderer is somehow granted release from prison on appeal through the power of ‘very expensive lawyers’? Okay. The same convicted murderer waltzes out of the country without being officially exonerated? Sure. A woman tags along to a secondary location to be the maid of honour for the same person who tried to murder her? Why not!
Five years after the events of ‘A Simple Favor,’ Stephanie struggles with guilt and uncertainty surrounding the most recent case she worked on as an amateur sleuth – all while releasing a new book on her ill-fated friendship with the infamous Emily Nelson. But luckily, here to save Stephanie from both her emotional and economical slump is Emily herself – freshly released from prison on appeal thanks to her mysterious new fiancé Dante (Michele Morrone). And just like that, the two are on their way to an extravagant Italian wedding – complete with icy in-laws who are (of course) part of a cutthroat crime family.
Overpacking For The Trip
What makes a good 2/3 of ‘Another Simple Favor’ at least entertaining to watch is the fact that the film never tries to become something that it’s not meant to be. With no less than nine separate shots of Italian cliff-sides, scenery-chewing performances from the film’s actors, and a sun hat so enormous that no lucid person would dream of wearing it, this is the darkly comedic romp that you enjoy with a stiff drink – not ‘Citizen Kane.’ ’Another Simple Favor’ knows exactly what fans loved from the first film and made sure to have all of those elements in spades for this second showing.
Some fashion decisions either appear to be trying too hard or simply end up falling flat – save for a truly, ridiculously amazing funeral ensemble worn by Lively. And after a chemistry-crackling sequence between Stephanie and Emily at the pool where the two flirt to their heart’s content, the heat all but fizzles out by the time Emily’s new husband is killed and the two women actually lock-lips after Stephanie is framed for his murder.
Reading The Room
One of the most talked about shocks in ’A Simple Favor’ was Stephanie’s confession that she had slept with her half-brother (and that he might be the real father of her son) – prompting Emily to crown her with the outrageous nickname “brother-f*cker.” This time around, it’s Emily’s turn to be in the movie’s incest hot-seat.
The film’s big twist is eventually revealed to be quite similar to that from the first film – as yet another identical sibling of Emily’s comes out of the woodwork in the form of Charity, the triplet who was believed to have been still-born. Stolen away at birth by the girls’ Aunt Linda (Allison Janney) and raised in relative isolation to become the perfect accessory for cons, Charity is now severely emotionally disturbed. After the real Emily saves Stephanie from the clutches of Dante’s vengeance-seeking mother, she catches Stephanie up on how Charity took her place right before the wedding – which was in fact a cover for the fact that Dante was gay and in love with a rival mafia bigwig.
The most disturbing part of Emily’s exposition monologue however, isn’t Aunt Linda’s scheme to grab a big payday by passing Charity off as Dante’s wealthy widow. It instead comes in the form of a flashback to when Charity first comes to drug Emily. As Charity lays with a chemically-incapacitated Emily in bed, it’s revealed that the disturbed Charity has formed an obsessive romantic attachment to her sister. Subsequently, an awfully uncomfortable scene of Charity touching a wide-eyed yet prone Emily unfolds. Aside from the fact that sexual assault on top of incest is an extremely tough pill to swallow, the out-of-place nature of this plot point goes beyond general ickiness.
The Unexpected Saving Grace Of Bad CGI
Although the first movie also featured an incest plotline, Stephanie’s relationship with her brother was pivotally a consensual one. ‘Another Simple Favor’ goes further: its cascade of lies, murders, and double-crosses fit the series’ campy thriller tone, but the explicit sexual assault does not. It almost feels as if the writers added the scene just so Stephanie could drop the line “sister-f*cker.” A fleeting chuckle isn’t worth the queasy detour.
What ends up pulling the most weight in minimising the uncomfortable Blake-on-Blake scenes is the quite obvious CGI work. In fact, in the final showdown where Aunt Linda and Charity hold Emily’s son Nicky hostage on a cliff’s edge, the very conspicuous CGI works double duty in making sure that the film concludes with more than a whimper. On top of Emily and Charity’s very odd looking lip-lock, an extended sequence of Aunt Linda continuously tumbling down a cliff is a welcome reminder of the fun that was had before the film’s third act.
With the fact that this film’s final scene perfectly sets up a third entry and that the first two movies were released seven years apart, there’s no ruling out the possibility of a trilogy (‘One More Simple Favor’?). If so, let’s just hope that the filmmakers have finally run out of siblings.
Born in Korea and raised in Hong Kong, Min Ji has combined her degree in anthropology and creative writing with her passion for going on unsolicited tangents as an editor at Friday Club. In between watching an endless amount of movies, she enjoys trying new cocktails and pastas while occasionally snapping a few pictures.
