Another Simple Favor - Not a Better Sequel of that Wonderful 2018 Mystery Thriller Movie, but Still Pretty Enjoyable

I got notification from Prime Video about this movie that was just released on the Labor Day Holiday which I was interested in. So once I got the chance yesterday, I immediately watched this to see if it was as good as I hoped for. OK, let's just get to it then.

Brief Story Line

Story was set five years after the events of the first movie, where Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick - Trolls World Tour, Woman of the Hour etc) had been a pretty succesful mystery vlogger and book writer of her experience with Emily Nelson (Blake Lively - The Rhythm Section, It Ends With Us etc). Unexpectedly Emily was able to get an appeal on her case and was released from prison. She even planned to get married with an Italian wealthy guy named Dante (Michele Morrone - 365 Days trilogy etc) in Capri island and insisted Stephanie to be her maid of honor.

As recommended by her agent Vicky (Alex Newell - Glee TV series etc), Stephanie did go to the wedding and reunited with Sean (Henry Golding - The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, The Gentlemen etc) who had to bring his son Nicky (Ian Ho). She also met with Dante's mother Portia (Elena Sofia Ricci - Loro, Che Dio ci aiuti TV series etc), Emily's mother Margaret (Elizabeth Perkins - The Flintstones, Weeds TV series etc) and Aunt Linda (Allison Janney - The Creator, The West Wing TV series etc). Unfortunately the wedding was interrupted with the death of one of the person there and Stephanie had to use her instinct and brain to find out the truth.

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

I really enjoyed the original movie that I saw 7 years ago and was expecting to have similar kind of fun in here. And the early part was quite promising with so many witty remarks and sarcastic dialogues among the characters which made me chuckled frequently. When the location shifted to Capri island, I was enjoying it even more with the beautiful scenery and lovely surrounding and I thought it would be nice to go there sometime. Anyway, pretty soon the incident occurred and subsequently the story became more exciting.

However, as the movie progressed, I felt that the formula was a bit repetitive. Despite the attempt to add more cast and moving its location, I found that the mystery was not as awesome as the original and there was no twist that totally surprised me like it did the first time. Nevertheless, the humor was still strongly felt even till the end which to me was the highlight instead of the perfect combination of mystery solving and black comedy. I guess it is not that easy to repeat such kind of success, even though it was still directed by Paul Feig (Jackpot!, The Heat etc) and written by Jessica Sharzer (Nerve, Dirty Dancing remake etc) who now collaborated with Laeta Kalogridis (Alexander, Night Watch etc).

A lot of the main cast returned in this sequel, although Jean Smart was replaced by Elizabeth Perkins. The notable ones who reprised their roles were Andrew Rannells (Girls TV series etc) as Stephanie's friend Darren and Bashir Salahuddin (Back in Action etc) as Detective Summerville. Additional support cast included Taylor Ortega as Irene Walker, Lorenzo de Moor as Matteo Bartolo and few others who also played the same characters. The obvious main attraction was definitely Lively and Kendrick whose chemistry here still delightful to watch.  

One thing for sure though that this movie felt a bit more brutal in term of the death with a more explicit scene of nudity too. I also read that it was only released via streaming on Prime Video and did not get wide release in the cinemas, so could not compare its box office performance with the original which was quite a success commercially and critically. Meanwhile the sequel got more mixed reception. The duration here was 2 hours that did not have any mid or post end credit scene. However, the ending seemed to suggest a possible sequel if they chose to do so. 

Overall this might not be the best sequel for a really good black comedy thriller, but I still find it to be entertaining enough particulary on the dark humor and witty dialogues. The mystery was not as great as the first movie and did not have so many twist either. However, the beautiful Capri island was something that could be enjoyed if you love to see a film shot in lovely location. So if you are expecting an improvement to the very good movie, then you would need to manage your expectation. However, if you are OK with the positives, likely you could still enjoy this one. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars