The Dark Crime Thriller Comedy Taking Over Netflix
A Simple Favor is now streaming on Netflix and it is the best combination of dark comedy and thriller you can imagine. With epic performances by Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick, and Henry Golding, you won’t be able to look away from the screen for a second. And once it’s over, you’ll go tell all your friends about it, just like I’m here telling you now.
A Simple Favor
A Simple Favor is based around just that, a simple favor. Sweet, homemaking vlogger mom Stephanie (Kendrick) has a young son, Miles, in elementary school.
She befriends her polar opposite when her son befriends another boy, Ian, in school and the two arrange a playdate.
Ian’s mother, Emily (Lively), is a high-powered, tough-talking, martini-drinking, power suit-wearing b*&ch. And she owns it. Emily runs public relations for an important corporate magnate, and she’s very good at her job.
Things Seem To Go Well
In the beginning of A Simple Favor, we see the two women interact. Emily takes Stephanie under her wing so to speak, inviting her over for martinis, where Stephanie meets Sean (Golding), Emily’s husband.
Things seem to be going well until one day Emily asks Stephanie if she can pick Ian up from school, and Emily never comes to get him.
A Plot Twist
This turn of events is the crux of A Simple Favor. Stephanie calls Sean, who comes to get his son in the middle of the night, and both are worried about where Emily could be. D
Days go by, the police get involved, and Stephanie begins to suspect that there’s more to this missing woman’s story than meets the eye.
She also starts falling in love with the very attractive, charismatic, and lonely Sean.
Surprise, Delights, And Darkness
Throughout A Simple Favor, Stephanie is checking in with her viewers on her vlog. She bakes, puts together simple meals for her son, and discusses the turning of events as Emily continues to be missing. To tell you any more about this movie would be to spoil the surprises, delights, darkness, and sheer dark humor that makes it so great.
Suffice to say, A Simple Favor is what made me love Blake Lively. She plays the villain so well, even when you’re still not sure if she’s a villain. The way she talks, the way she handles her boss, the way she turns her head, even the way she drinks her martini and throws her body against her husband. It’s all so lascivious and daring, you want to be her.
Anna Kendrick Is The Foil
And what makes A Simple Favor so much better is Anna Kendrick as the foil. While Lively’s character is relatively straightforward and direct from the outset, Kendrick’s Stephanie goes through an evolution over the span of a few weeks that is utterly engrossing.
She starts out so naive and reveals herself to be strong, smart, and capable while also being entirely flawed. Meanwhile, Golding’s Sean finds himself in a kind of love tug o’ war.
Stream A Simple Favor
REVIEW SCORE
If you’re in the mood for a dark comedy thriller, let A Simple Favor be your first choice, streaming on Netflix now. It’s one that will have you shaking your head in disbelief all the way up until the credits roll. I give it a solid 5 stars out of 5.
