Filmmaker Paul Feig reteams with Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively in Another Simple Favor, the sequel to 2018 comedic thriller A Simple Favor.

When we reunite with Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick), she’s now both a mom-influencer and bestselling author. She’s incorporated her experiences from the previous film and written a book. While doing a reading at a book tour stop, Emily Nelson (Blake Lively)–now released from prison–walks back into her life and asks her to be her maid of honor at her upcoming wedding to Italian businessman Dante Versano (Michele Morrone). As you can probably imagine, Stephanie doesn’t want anything to do with it but she’s forced to go along.

In absolutely no surprise, Another Simple Favor has the same recipe of murder and betrayal as family members descend on the island of Capri, Italy. There are plenty of twists and turns–none of which I’m going to tell you about. Much like the 2018 film, this is the kind of film best experienced knowing as little as possible. If you enjoyed the first film, there’s a highly likely chance that you’ll probably enjoy the sequel. Will Feig follow this up with a second sequel? I hope so because I need more comedic thrillers in my life.

The previous film was released seven years ago this fall. Nobody from the cast has missed a beat as they return for Another Simple Favor. Both Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively still have the same chemistry that wowed audiences in the fall of 2018 and made the comedic thriller a sleeper hit. There are new additions to the cast, including Elizabeth Perkins stepping into replace Jean Smart in the role of Emily’s mother, Margaret McLinden.

I had three opportunities to experience Another Simple Favor on the big screen, opting for the second of three screening choices. Interestingly enough, for a film that is going straight to Prime Video, press screeners were not made available. If Amazon MGM Studios wanted press to watch the film on the big screen, why is it that this film is going straight to Prime Video? The same thing happened in January with the release of Nicholas Stoller’s You’re Cordially Invited. Both films were deserving of theatrical releases.

The thing I love about experiencing Another Simple Favor is that it allowed me the largest screen possible to take in all the costume design, production design, and sound design. Watching this film in theaters is the best way to really take advantage of how they designed the sound and music. It’s not the same experience watching from home, especially once we start getting into the season where TVs are competing with air conditioners. But I digress.

Rather than have the film play theaters and qualify for Oscars, going straight to Prime Video means it’ll be competing as a TV movie and worst of all, stacked acting awards because the Television Academy still hasn’t split up Limited/Anthology Series and Movies into their own acting categories! This is the world we’re living in right now. There’s a dearth of movies– a number of them are good–getting lost in the algorithm because they aren’t getting an opportunity to find an audience at the theater. Another Simple Favor comes ready made with already having an audience–the first grossed $97.6 million against a $20 million budget. Why not give theaters a chance?

All the craftwork in Another Simple Favor benefits from seeing the film on the biggest screen possible–it’s just a shame that audiences won’t get to experience the film in this way.

DIRECTOR: Paul Feig
SCREENWRITERS: Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis
CAST: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Andrew Rannells, Bashir Salahuddin, Elizabeth Perkins, Michele Morrone, Alex Newell, with Henry Golding and Allison Janney

Prime Video will release Another Simple Favor on May 1, 2025. Grade: 4/5

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