A Simple Favor
“A Simple Favor” is very delicate. It is a thriller and at the same time told with humor in mind. One wrong move would have been fatal, resulting in either film self serious, or straining to be “relevant,” or worse just plain old boring. But “A Simple Favor,” directed by Paul Feig, wants to have its cake and eat it too.
It’s suspenseful, but also hilarious. It’s insightful about the head games women can play with each other, but it doesn’t burden itself with trying to be “meaningful.” It’s not trying to “say something” about “how we live now” or anything like that. What a relief to watch a film unafraid of letting her hair down.
The funky stylized credits sequence (designed by David Clayton) clues us in immediately that this isn’t going to be a gloomy by the book thriller. A throwback to 1960s comedies or spy capers, the credits involve single color images of stilettos and purses moving around in angular cut-out shapes, a collage of conspicuous consumption, with one of the many classic French pop songs blaring behind it.
The soundtrack is filled with Serge Gainsbourg songs, including “Bonnie & Clyde,” his duet with Brigitte Bardot, plus “Une Histoire de Plage,” “Laisse Tomber les Filles,” and Jean Paul Keller’s “Ca C’est Arrange.” Mood setting is one of the most important aspects of film-making, and so many films fail to establish the proper mood from the jump. Written by Jessica Sharzer as an adaptation of Darcey Bell’s novel, “A Simple Favor” knows exactly what it needs in order for all that will follow.
Anna Kendrick plays Stephanie Smothers a single mom who runs a popular “vlog,” where she shares recipes, parenting tips, and DIY how tos to a T. She’s an over-volunteering type-A personality at her son’s school who makes other parents feel like slackers. In a couple of swift scenes it’s established that Stephanie is virtually friendless until Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) whose son goes to school with Stephanie’s skips into her life. Emily has a high-powered job “in the city” (New York), and ropes Stephanie into drinking martinis after picking up the boys from school.
The two sit in her palatial glass-walled home, and get drunk. Stephanie is dazzled. It’s not hard to see why: Emily is casually gorgeous, wearing high heels and pinstriped suits complete with gold watch chains (Renee Ehrlich Kalfus deserves beaucoup credit for her costume design). Emily swears like a sailor (even in front of the kids), and has a direct way of speaking; she looks right at Stephanie, intimate, encouraging. Stephanie can’t believe she has been “chosen” to be this fabulous creature’s friend.
Emily’s behavior has a few red flags, but Stephanie ignores them. Stephanie takes one picture of Emily without her consent and is told in no uncertain terms to delete it. Beautiful is not the first word that comes to mind about Emily; intimidating and mercurial are more accurate. She can be warm and encouraging one moment and slightly scary the next. Emily says “It’s a fed up female habit” when Stephanie constantly apologizes for things. She’s right, but she also always keeps Stephanie just off balance.
Both actresses are at high alert here. Kendrick’s performance is so funny because she is so awkward you yearn for her to relax; Lively is ruthless and charming, sexy but detached Julie Christie in her best ’60s/’70s work, i.e., a completely destabilizing presence to men and women alike.
And then, Emily goes missing.
The police are called; Stephanie finds herself the center of attention as Emily’s “best friend.” She helps support Emily’s husband Sean (Henry Golding) with the kids while he grieves/works himself into an anxiety fugue state updates on her vlog (her follower count goes through the roof). But slowly Stephanie starts to wonder if there might be more going on here than meets the eye.
What do we really know about Emily? Who is she? Even Nicky refers to his wife as “a beautiful ghost.” Underestimated and mocked, intimidated by that cool gaze from behind those shades, something inside little mousy overachiever Stephanie snaps back into place (we’d never have known it was there had it not been for that coldly dismissive remark), and suddenly “A Simple Favor” shifts fluidly into
Steph finds herself trying to piece together Em’s past what really happened? The whole situation works so well because basically Stephanie is the same mousy overachiever she’s always been, only now she’s sneaking through apartments and offices, breaking into filing cabinets, doing things she never thought she would do (or could do) while wearing cute little combos from The Gap.
One of Feig’s greatest gifts as a director is working with strong charismatic women and giving them space to whoop it up, work off each other be co-creators. His approach is spacious; there is space left for behavior. Humor. Spontaneity. (Think Bullock/McCarthy in “The Heat” that should have become a franchise.)
“A Simple Favor,” though intricate (and spooky) plot-wise, has many surprise reveals but doesn’t feel over planned. At one point Stephanie goes into a panic and shouts at Nicky: “Are you trying to Diabolique me? Oh my God you’re trying to Diabolique me!” It’s funny; you have to know “Diabolique.” Those French pop songs don’t dominate the soundtrack for nothing.
There are similarities between this plot and that of “Gone Girl,” but that’s about where the comparison should end. “Gone Girl” took itself very seriously; “A Simple Favor” doesn’t take itself seriously at all. And that’s a good thing.
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