A Simple Favour

A SIMPLE FAVOUR (12)

D: Paul Feig

Lionsgate/Bron/Feigco (Paul Feig & Jessie Henderson)

US 2018

117 mins

Comedy/Mystery/Thriller

W: Jessica Sharzer [based on the novel by Darcey Bell]

DP: John Schwartzman

Ed: Brent White

Mus: Theodore Shapiro

Anna Kendrick (Stephanie Smothers), Blake Lively (Emily Nelson), Henry Golding (Sean Townsend), Linda Cardellini (Diana Hyland), Joshua Satine (Miles Smothers)

A black comedy in disguise as a typical rom-com, with some unique twists to breathe a lot of originality into a genre which is usually laden with clichés.

Anna Kendrick plays Stephanie Smothers, a single mother and online vlogger who develops a friendship with bitchy career woman Emily Nelson. One afternoon, Stephanie receives a call from Emily asking for a simple favour... to pick up her son from school. Emily then disappears and is presumed dead, Stephanie has an affair with Emily's husband and is subsequently haunted by Emily.

The plot does share some obvious similarities with classic French thriller Les Diaboliques, which the film makes reference to before going a different way. Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively are great in their respective roles, especially the latter, who plays the bitch part to perfection, but the other parts are quite underwritten, especially Emily's one-dimensional husband Sean.

A huge improvement on Paul Feig's previous film (Ghostbusters), which I think has absolutely no reason to exist, whereas this is much better than you might expect it to be.

7/10