Blake Lively’s latest crime against humanity? Having the most fun of her career

The moment Blake Lively’s Savile Row-by-way-of-Forever 21-clad homicidal schemer Emily beckons Anna Kendrick’s Stephanie to a cliffside in “Another Simple Favor,” the sequel to Paul Feig’s 2018 camp caper, the movie might as well broadcast a flashing sign in the corner of the screen that says, “REMEMBER THIS.” The scene’s staging makes it so obvious that this picturesque sight will reappear later that it’s almost comical. Successful foreshadowing should be subtle; viewers shouldn’t know where the story will go, but be able to appreciate how the tool was used when considering the film as a whole. But hoping for nuance in this franchise is a fool’s errand. Nothing about “Another Simple Favor” or its equally cuckoo bananas predecessor, “A Simple Favor,” is subtle. These are movies designed to be a good time at the expense of the audience’s sanity. The more outrageous and soapy they are, the better.

It’s just ironic that, by the time that blustery seaside bluff comes back into play later in the film, “Another Simple Favor” has already hurled itself off a cliff. As if the movie weren’t strange enough as it is, Feig takes a sharp left turn in the final act that’s both jaw-dropping and head-scratching. The writer-director yanks a new tone out of oblivion to join the other 26 he’s already established throughout the first 90 minutes of this two-hour adventure, one so truly shocking that I was surprised no one at my screening leapt to their feet. In retrospect, I would’ve cheered, but I feel that might’ve interrupted the uncomfortable silence that fell upon the auditorium, maybe even sparked a citizen’s arrest, considering the scene’s subject matter. The headline writes itself: “Critic detained by influencers at screening of perverse Prime Video film.”

But you’ll have to hear me out first. “Another Simple Favor” pushes the limits of mainstream filmmaking every chance it gets, in ways so cringeworthy and stupefying that it’s difficult not to, at the very least, respect Feig’s chutzpah. We are, after all, in an era of movie maximalism, and Feig’s film fits right in with the six different endings and two post-credits scenes in “Sinners” and the manic jump cuts in “Drop.” And just like those cases, such an overstuffed film would not work without the right star to reduce the cinematic clutter. 

Here, Lively capably wears each piece of Feig’s loony story as elegantly as she does Emily’s increasingly absurd outfits. Though “Another Simple Favor” was shot before Lively’s legal battle with “It Ends with Us” costar Justin Baldoni, she arrives here with an almost knowing wink. Stepping into Emily’s bespoke suits for the second time lets Lively play the bad guy that Baldoni’s narrative paints her as. Even if the film is horrendous, its timing couldn’t be better; a real-life soap opera blown up to catastrophic, delectable results. I hope it’s the second film of 40.

To explain why production needs to begin on another sequel — tentatively titled “Pleeeeeaasse, Just One More Simple Favor, Last Time I Promise,” a title I will sell to Prime Video and Paul Feig for a paltry $1 million — you’ll first need a bit of context for what makes this one so “great.” (Read: Truly terrible.) In the first film, Stephanie, a mommy vlogger, meets the high-powered, high-fashion Emily, a mom whose son goes to the same school as Stephanie’s. Before long, the two become friends, which leads Emily to request the titular uncomplicated courtesy. Emily’s got business out of town, and she needs Stephanie to watch her son for a few days. Long story short: Emily goes missing, her body is found and Stephanie embarks on a search for answers. After some impressive amateur sleuthing, Stephanie learns that Emily didn’t die after all; she drowned her twin sister, Faith, and intended to collect the insurance money. Naturally, things go awry and Emily almost succeeds in offing Stephanie to keep her secret, only to be foiled at the last minute and hauled off to the clink.

Blake Lively in “Another Simple Favor” (Lorenzo Sisti). The first “Simple Favor” was already a dishy delight — and if that summary intrigues you, it’s worth a watch to take in all of the preposterous twists and turns I’ve left out for expediency. But instead of worrying about giving the audience too much of a good thing with a sequel, Feig plops another heaping scoop of melodrama onto the viewer’s plate. In “Another Simple Favor,” Stephanie has parlayed her detective work into a career as a true crime novelist. But with her most famous story already losing steam, books are not exactly flying off the shelves. That is until Emily reappears at one of Stephanie’s readings, appropriately clad in a terrycloth suit patterned with jail stripes. She’s got new lawyers, a new life and a new fiancé, and Stephanie’s invited to the lavish Italian nuptials.

Stephanie, of course, assumes this is all a ruse for Emily to exact her revenge in international waters. But Emily assures her she hasn’t been studiously researching criminal extradition laws, she’s simply fallen head over heels for an old beau named Dante (Michele Morrone). Stephanie’s suspicions aren’t helped by the fact that Dante is part of an Italian crime family, but hey, the publishing market is in dire straits, and this story could make a terrific follow-up to her flagging first effort. Anything to sell a few books!

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By now, Feig, Lively and Kendrick have all reaffirmed their expertise at this game. Kendrick and Lively toss barbs like volleyballs, occasionally landing a good spike that makes the other one speechless. Their chemistry is as natural as ever, and Feig’s script is at its best when he’s writing for these two women. 

However, things get a little shaky when it comes to plotting and tertiary characters. “Another Simple Favor” has difficulty settling into a rhythm; any film balancing this many plot lines would. The movie trips over its own narrative threads so often that it might as well star Buster Keaton. But Feig has always been better at crafting characters and comedy than he has mysteries. In “The Heat” and “Spy,” he kept things trucking with a steady stream of punchlines to distract from thinly written central mysteries. Throw the audience off with a whole lot of silliness and nonsense, and there’s a good chance they’ll forget that a whodunit like this should be building intrigue as it goes. But that’s tough to do when the body count rises as quickly as it does in “Another Simple Favor.” When we’re constantly reminded there’s supposed to be trouble afoot, not even a healthy dose of folly can make dead air feel more energetic, and it often seems like Feig is biding his time until the finale.

Blake Lively, Michele Morrone, Alex Newell and Anna Kendrick in “Another Simple Favor” (Lorenzo Sisti). But oh, what a splendid finale it is. Know that, despite the spoilers you’re about to read, I encourage you to fire up this movie on the biggest screen you can find the moment you’ve finished this piece. You will not regret it, just as I have not regretted paying $2.90 for a 50-minute subway ride to and from my screening. 

Amid the deluge of dead bodies popping up around Emily’s wedding ceremony, Stephanie is caught in police crosshairs. She’s the perfect suspect, but it’s a clear frame job. The only question is: Was this Emily’s doing? It initially seems that way, given Emily has been skulking around Italy with her weird Aunt Linda (Allison Janney), who shows up to the party uninvited. But when Emily visits Stephanie, who’s locked away in her hotel room on house arrest like a twee Rapunzel, it becomes clear that the players have been miscounted. The woman who’s appeared in her room is acting strange — weirder and hornier than Emily usually is, and that’s a high bar. It’s not Emily at all, but a third sister: the assumed-to-be-dead-at-birth triplet, Charity. 

But one measly little triplet reveal? That’s small-time for Feig, who has built a career on taking a gag as far as it can go. Charity isn’t just a long-lost sister, she was taken by Aunt Linda at birth and raised as a con artist, one who’s got an obsession with Emily that’s more than just sibling affection. Charity has felt a connection to Emily her whole life, pulling her from afar. And she’ll do anything to make sure the two of them end up together. And I do not mean platonically.

For someone who was weaned on afternoon soap operas at his daycare provider’s house and later raised on the scandals of “Gossip Girl,” a triplet twist followed by an incest subplot feels like manna from heaven. Lively has made some interesting strides into legitimate dramatic territory in recent years; “The Age of Adaline” and “The Shallows” remain underrated — something I can’t attribute to most of her filmography. But this is proper Serena van der Woodsen stuff, the kind of pulpy insanity that Lively cut her teeth on. So it should be no surprise to anyone that she’s stellar at grounding this twist with enough performing weight to keep “Another Simple Favor” from flying away into the sky. 

In 2025 alone, there has already been a surprising number of mainstream actors tackling double roles. “The Monkey,” “Sinners” and “Alto Knights” all boast two characters played by the same person. But none of those films feature someone who has been dogged in the press for six months. And while I don’t think playing two roles says anything about Lively’s character, I do think playing these roles in this film continues to speak to an admirable level of fearlessness, which Lively had to have to enter into a huge, public legal battle knowing that the court of public opinion rarely, if ever, favors a woman. Lively’s career and life have been packed with bold choices — many of which are either not great or flat-out terrible — but this one is particularly inspired. 

If this subplot weren’t wacky enough, Feig shoehorns in some light, suggested sexual assault. (For those keeping track, that’s the film’s 28th tonal shift.) Charity drugs Emily and sidles up to her sister in bed, talking about how they can be together and “make each other feel good” forever. It’s nauseating, but nothing compared to the far more graphic and intentionally titillating incest we watched in the third season of “The White Lotus.” Feig cuts the scene before things get too gnarly, eventually landing on a far more tame climax on the seaside escarpment after the movie has made a swan dive off the cliff with some twisted sister surprises. 

But does a film like “Another Simple Favor” need the peak of its action to be the best part when so many zany, outrageous things have left us gawking and in awe? Like a cream cheese frosting slathered onto a tasty but conventional chocolate cake, the unexpected flourishes are the best part of this delicious treat. The irony of the “Simple Favor” movies is that nothing that makes life exciting is ever truly simple. Sometimes, we need to drive over the speed limit or consume some empty calories to feel alive. Whether these things are “good,” or “lawful,” or “right in the eyes of God or your mother” doesn’t really matter. They make for an exhilarating time at the movies. So what if “Another Simple Favor” is ultimately a lousy film? Watching it is unforgettable, and that’s a good enough reason to keep churning them out like candy on a factory line.