A Simple Favor
I think you can make a reasonable case for Paul Feig being one of the best directors of women Hollywood has right now. Even a movie I didn’t like such as his breakout smash, “Bridesmaids,” was able to bring out the best from the women in the cast (namely, Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne and Melissa McCarthy), even if the resulting film didn’t land with me comedically, while his subsequent films- “The Heat,” “Spy” and “Ghostbusters”- all gave chances for women like McCarthy, Sandra Bullock, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon to shine. The idea of him shifting gears to something a bit more serious like “A Simple Favor” intriguing, but while the film does verge into thriller territory, it’s more of a wicked dark comedy, and a chance for Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively to shine.
It’s fair to say that Blake Lively is not a particularly great actor, but when she’s given material (and a collaborator) that plays to her strengths, she can do good work. “Green Lantern” is not a good example of what she is as an actress, and “Accepted” has her as a standard “girlfriend” role, but it’s not unreasonable to say that she is a big part of the reason a movie like “The Shallows” (which has her going up against a shark) or especially “The Age of Adaline” (a haunting romantic drama) is successful. Feig and screenwriter Jessica Sharzer, adapting a novel by Darcey Bell, give her another juicy role to play as Emily Nelson, a stylish working woman, who takes no shit, whom comes to pick up her son, Nicky, from school one day, and meets Stephanie (Anna Kendrick), a single mother who has a vlog about helpful mothering tips and recipes, and is someone who signs up for as much to help out with her son Miles’s class as possible. Miles and Nicky are friends, and after a couple of play dates together, Stephanie and Emily- married to a college professor who wrote a successful book several years ago (Sean Townsend, played by Henry Golding)- become friendly, and maybe even best friends. One day, Emily asks Stephanie to pick up Nicky from school when Sean has to go home to London to take care of his ill mother. Emily, however, disappears, and while she’s told her work one thing, something a bit more sinister feels like it’s going on the longer she’s gone.
The first thing I’d like to point out here is the greek chorus of “class moms” Sharzer has written in Darren (Andrew Rannells), Stacy (Kelly McCormack) and Sona (Aparna Nancherla), whom we first see mocking Stephanie for her hyper-activity when it comes to doing stuff for Miles’s class, and who show up at other times to comment on the events we see with withering snark. I kind of love the way Feig, Sharzer and their actors make this idea work, even when the film starts to get into darker territory, and it’s something that really clues you in to the sly sensibility Feig is bringing to this story. The missing wife plot is straight out of “Gone Girl,” but Feig isn’t doing a straight-faced version of this story, but rather a weirdly satirical take on how crazy that plot is. Having Stephanie as the in for this, rather than focusing on the husband left behind, is a smart move that not only gives Kendrick some great material, but also makes us feel like we’re watching a detective story as Stephanie gets more and more into Emily’s life, and seeing the cracks beneath the facade. The film begins with Stephanie doing one of her vlogs, and it’s one of the interesting aspects of the story is to see not only how much Stephanie’s affection for Emily, and concern for her, becomes a part of her vlog, but also to see her change, and her audience change, each time we see her in front of the camera. It’s part of the reason why you can’t really take this film, and its story, all too seriously, and part of why it is so entertaining.
If you want elegant women doing devious things, “A Simple Favor” is for you. If you want some sexy humor, “A Simple Favor” is for you. If you want absurd comedy, “A Simple Favor” is for you. If you want an entertaining movie mystery, “A Simple Favor” is for you. Paul Feig feels like he’s going a little bit more into his wheelhouse of edgy, sarcastic humor that bends genres to his will (as he did with “The Heat” and “Spy”) than he has previously, all the while giving his leading ladies ample opportunities to be funny, alluring and a bit serious, as well. I really like how he brings it together in this film.
