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A simple favor ended with Blake Lively's Emily being hit by a car and then arrested as she tried to crawl away in one of her many beautiful outfits. But as it turns out, you can't keep a good, or in this case, a very bad, woman down. Another simple favor reunites Lively and Anna Kendrick in a new story of murder, deceit, and great hats. And this time, it all takes place on the gorgeous island of Capri.
I'm Stephen Thompson. And I'm Linda Holmes. And today we're talking about another simple favor on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. This message comes from Charles Schwab. When it comes to managing your wealth, Schwab gives you more choices, like full-service wealth management and advice when you need it. You can also invest on your own and trade on Thinkorswim. Visit Schwab.com to learn more.
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Joining us today is Christina Tucker. She's the co-host of the podcast, Wait, Is This a Date? Hello, Christina. Welcome back. Oh, hello, hello, my friend. So gorgeous to be with you. I only lightly wish we were on the island of Capri instead of our various office setups, but alas. It's true. I do wish I were in an enormous hat right now, but sadly, I'm not. All right. So there is something we want to mention because we're not going to get into it today. You might have heard
So we shall move on.
Back to another simple favor. In the first movie, Blake Lively's mysterious and dangerous Emily befriended Anna Kendrick's uber-wholesome YouTuber mom, Stephanie, and then disappeared.
Stephanie joined Emily's husband, Sean, played by Henry Golding, to look for her. And from there, things just got more and more complicated. In the end, Emily went to jail, but as it turns out, she didn't stay long. At the opening of Another Simple Favor, Stephanie has written a true crime book about Emily, and Emily has managed to spring herself from prison. I love that.
Emily, why are you here? You came for vengeance in a suburban bookstore? Stephanie, please. You're my best friend. I mean, you lit my life on fire, but...
You saved me. You gave me a clean slate. That's why I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to find ways to thank you. That's the most terrifying thing she's said yet. Emily has arranged a splashy wedding in Capri. She wants Stephanie to come. She orders Stephanie to come. So these two women end up together again in a very beautiful location. And Emily is as well-dressed as ever, it must be said.
Stephanie is not the trusting woman Emily originally conned, so now she's trying to figure out exactly what Emily's game is, what it has to do with the wedding, and whether she's secretly planning to throw Stephanie off a very scenic cliff. The film is again directed by Paul Feig, and much of the cast of the original, including Golding, returns. New to this film are Allison Janney as Emily's aunt and Elizabeth Perkins taking over for Jean Smart as Emily's mother.
The film is streaming now on Prime Video, and we should note that Amazon supports NPR and pays to distribute some of our content. Christina, I remember you being a big fan of the first movie, of the vibes, of the general kind of like oddness. Yes, there's a lot of queer coded behavior in the first movie. Yes, I believe you did a whole podcast about the first movie. I sure.
Tell me how you felt about being back in the world of these women again. It was a mixed bag for me to be back in the world of these women again. As noted, I did love and enjoyed the first Simple Favor. I similarly saw it at a screening, having no idea what I was walking into. It was very fun. It kind of gagged me. It was very silly. And again, there was a queer undertone that simply could not be ignored.
This go round, I was kind of coming in with bottom of the barrel expectations. We're talking a streamer sequel going to Prime. Like I kind of know where we're in. And on that level, I was like, you know what? We are in a gorgeous location. These streets look like people actually are on them. I'm seeing things. There were some moments that I was like, this is fun.
But the pacing really suffered for me. I think it's quite long for what it is. And as in the first movie where there's like a lot of like fun little bits that like don't later mean anything so we can forget about them. There's a lot going on here and you actually have to keep track of it all in a way that is a bit less fun for me than number one.
So overall, I was like, this isn't hitting the same goals. But like, if you need something to throw on, it's pretty fun. That's kind of where I landed. Yeah, that's reasonable. Stephen, how about you? Yeah, I came down very, very similarly to Christina.
I think that I didn't necessarily merge with the first film to become one with it the way Christina did. Yeah, it's hard to do. But I did approach this film, you know, with kind of similarly like, wow, that movie was seven years ago. I remember really liking it. A lot of the core boxes are being checked here.
Beautiful location. Dresses, beautiful dresses. Beautiful. The chemistry between the leads is still very much present. Christina used a phrase that I think is very important in digesting this film, which is streamer sequel. Yeah.
that does lower the stakes. Getting to kind of come back and swim in the shark-infested waters of this story has its pleasures, and there are kind of joys along the way. But I found the overall plotting of this film to be both extremely convoluted and extremely predictable. There's a lot of twists in this film, as you might expect from a sequel to A Simple Favor.
But they're telegraphed and they're clunky and they're confusing at the same time as you know what's going to happen. There are characters in this film who kind of drop in and out of it entirely as devices whose behavior makes absolutely no sense in the context of what has just happened. But at the same time, did I kind of enjoy going back to this world and looking at these gorgeous locations and watching these characters mix it up? Sure. Yeah, I think...
that I am probably modestly more positive than both of you. I did not enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the first one. But I think not only do I enjoy the aesthetic, which is like, listen, this general feeling has been done in, you know, the talented Mr. Ripley. And I mean, it's not the exact same place, but like the feel of this place.
You know, we've mentioned the costumes on particularly on Blake Lively, which are spectacularly great. Like no one could possibly own this wardrobe. And yet it's you know, she's got when she wears a big hat.
to go out shopping. It's not just a big hat. It's a hat that... It's a canopy. They had to clear side streets for her to walk through. And it looks great on her. She actually, because you know this character already and you know how she dresses, this enormous hat, the size of a bathtub, looks normal on her because the character is so exaggerated.
But in addition to that, I really like both of these lead performances in this movie. Me too. I think Blake Lively, there have been a lot of things I have not enjoyed Blake Lively in all that much. She has absolutely figured out this performance. The way she talks to Stephanie, the way she calls her baby, it is so kind of lecherous and also menacing and also ingratiating. Yeah.
After all I've done for you? Look at all this. This is all for you, baby. Your numbers just went through the roof. You can't thank me for this. You sort of can't put your finger on it. You know she's bad, but you understand why she's so magnetic, right? Yeah. And I think the interesting thing about Anna Kendrick in this film is that Stephanie's a very, as I mentioned in the intro, a very different person now, right? She's been through this whole mess of...
Please don't make me say. Tell me. Okay.
I knew I would be the best PTA president, so I stuffed the ballot box with my name, but it shouldn't be a popularity contest. And Stacey's had it out for me. No, we're talking about Olivia. Emily. I think this movie leans a little more into the comedy more straightforwardly than the first one did. I think the first one held its cards a little closer about whether it was going to turn out to be sort of a noir. Sure. Yeah. This one is more obviously a comedy. I liked that.
I also think they found a pretty good solution for the fact that Sean, the husband in the first movie, is pretty dull. I think they found it. Because that was one of the things when I went back and watched it, I was like, yeah, he's kind of an empty hunk. It makes when she calls him a yeast infection so satisfying. Because you are like, yeah, unfortunately, that is that guy. He's just kind of a very pretty guy.
not that interesting guy. I mean, if you want pretty and not that interesting, you get Henry Golding. I think that's not necessarily fair. I liked him drunk and angry. I think he is not often given good roles. I will say that. I think he's better in this where he, by the time you catch up with him seven years after the events of the first film, he's essentially become an embittered divorced man. I think that works for him.
Celebrate is quite the strong word because I would rather shave my balls with a rusty knife than be at this wedding. Oh, let me do that for you. Yeah? Please. I am interested to ask Christina. Yes? You mentioned the first film, and this one is too, being very queer-coded. Mm-hmm. Like, on the one hand, it's very blatant about it, and on the other hand, it's coy about it.
in a way. Yes. This one even more so I felt than the first. Talk to me a little bit about that. Yeah. This one was a little strange for me because it felt like the conversation, like for those two, they were a little more skeptical of each other coming at each other with a different energy than the first one when it was very much Stephanie, like, do I want to be this woman or do I want to be with this woman? Very, a very classic queer conundrum. And
And Stephanie kind of coming in with a more skeptical energy I also really liked. I think it made sense that her character would have grown in this manner. Their relationship still felt like it made sense in the same way it did in the first movie with those kind of like, you know, Blake is good at saying baby to Anna Kendrick. It's just like a skill set she has. And that's wonderful. But it was kind of strange that so many characters in the movie were kind of commenting on their
And Stephanie's obsession with Emily in a way that felt very like, well, ew, is this a lesbian thing? In a way that was kind of like, that's a surprise. But then it was never really mentioned again. And then again, without spoiling, the end of this movie feels so gay to me that I'm just kind of like, well, what do we do now?
Yeah. What are we doing here? It's a confusing tale. I definitely think this film does benefit from the character of Stephanie being more knowing. And that allows them to kind of comment more directly on some of the dynamics that are going on. In some ways, that can kind of blunt the joy of it once you turn subtext into text. Mm-hmm.
But at the same time, I do appreciate, as Linda said, this film kind of using that part of Anna Kendrick's toolkit, that more knowing quality, allowing that character to grow when there are so many characters in this film who are really just reduced to devices, did give me something to kind of grasp onto as I was kind of going through the motions of watching this film.
Yeah, I just want to shout out my queen, Allison Janney. I wish you had more fun things to do in this movie. It was great to see you as ever. I'm just like, man. She's a little underutilized in this, I think. In terms of the relationship between Stephanie and Emily, the thing I kept thinking was like, okay, so Emily tried to kill Stephanie.
A couple times in the first movie, as I recall. And has, in fact, they reveal in the first movie, has killed someone in the past. The fact that Stephanie ends up going on a plane with her to be her...
made of honor as you do can only be explained by lust like only when you are very very hot for someone will you do something that unbelievably dumb and reckless and i should know i think there is also you can combine lust like one component of lust is curiosity yeah
There's an element, a way to spin it where she's curious. She's like, what is she after? What is she trying to do? Why is she doing this? The only way I can. Get in her pants. That's what she's curious about. What's in her pants. The only way she can fully find out what she's up to. Is in her pants. When she gets to her pants. Yeah.
100%. Like, why is your bachelorette party simply just candles and us in a pool? Like, what's going on here? It's a very romantic setting. I'm sorry, Stephen, go ahead. No, no. I'm just offering a counter-argument that there is a journalistic reason and kind of an opportunistic –
career-based reason to get on that plane. There is this sense of like, you know, she's got her kind of book agent along with her for the ride. That's true. You know, where it's like, you got to do this, you got to do this, you can get another book out of it, you might get a better selling book out of it. So there is like a certain amount of kind of mutual exploitation that's going on at the same time. That's very reasonable.
I feel like Emily also threatens to sue her at some point for using her likeness. So like, you know, there's some financial motivation. Nothing moves you like lust in a lawsuit. The two L's. I do think it's fair to say that if you have seen the first movie, there are a lot of kind of repeat beats in this film. In fact, there's a plot point that is set up in the first movie where when it comes back, you're like, man, I should have seen that. Yeah, I was like, well, it wasn't the first.
It's like, listen, they did warn you. They did. They can get away with it. They gave you all the clues. It was there. I just want to say, I'm amazed that we've talked about this film as long as we have and have not mentioned the scene with her trying to escape from a hotel in a cleaning cart.
And as mixed as I am on this film, that is a very, very, very funny scene. That was a wonderful scene. And I was having a similar feeling of like, we've talked about this movie for so long and yet I'm just sitting here remembering things that occur and being like, oh, right. Also in this movie, like the mafia is heavily involved. Yes, the mafia is heavily involved. Like, oh, yes. There are just kind of more bits that keep floating to my mind. And I'm like, oh, right.
That occurred. I think it's also fair to mention, you know, the first film has this kind of little subplot that's not, they don't spend a lot of time on it, that is meant to be kind of very transgressive, that involves Stephanie and her brother, her half-brother. Mm-hmm.
And I did actually in the first one, I sort of understood what they were going for. I think they were going for making the movie weirder and darker than it was otherwise. And that made sense to me. It felt in bounds for what they were trying to do.
There is a scene in this movie that is also meant to be transgressive and sort of like yikesy. And it is. It is yikesy. I did say yikes. I think that one is miscalculated. I would not have done that. I think there is another way to do that scene that's not quite so, doesn't quite go so hard in the same ways. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because my theater like lost so much energy at that moment.
moment and it was already kind of dwindling because there had been not much happening and then it really took the air out. They want these movies to feel weirder and darker than they are when they're just these women like running around with you know Blake Lively being super well dressed and
But I think that's a mishit. And I think if you watch this movie, just be prepared to take a big breath and be like, ah, this is it. Yeah, there's a low moment. A real low. One thing that comes up a lot in movies like this, at some point you're going to have to resolve what the hell is even going on. You're going to have to do a certain amount of explaining everything.
at the end of this film. And that is going to kind of deflate the pleasures of the film. In the end, like on a vibes basis, I did enjoy it for the most part, with the exception of that sort of, I think, badly miscalculated scene.
Other than that, I did enjoy the vibes. I did. It's a streaming sequel. Adjust your expectations accordingly. I say adjust your expectations accordingly and then take them up five degrees higher. I also want to shout out the gentlemen who are the bodyguards of the mafia as they are providing my inspiration for my Cowboy Carter looks for tour this summer because they really were wearing some hats and I appreciated that. Hat-heavy movie.
Yeah, this is a little bit of an odd one. We want to know what you think about another simple favor. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com slash PCHH and on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com slash NPR pop culture. We'll have a link to that in our episode description. That brings us to the end of our show. Christina Tucker, Stephen Thompson, thank you so much for being here. I'm only sorry we weren't in Capri.
Me too, but I'm thrilled to have been here. Thank you, buddy. Next year in Capri. Absolutely. This episode was produced by Liz Metzger and Mike Katziff and edited by Jessica Reedy. Hello, Come In provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Linda Holmes, and we'll see you all next time.
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