Not every movie needs a sequel. 2018’s sharply funny thriller A Simple Favor certainly didn’t seem poised for one, as its happy ending plopped its duplicitous villainess in prison with a decades-long sentence. But when you created a bad bitch as wickedly fun to watch as Emily Nelson — aka Hope McLanden — wouldn’t it be a crime to lock her up for good? You bet your ass, baby. 

Blake Lively returns as the fearsome and fashion-forward femme fatale, opposite Anna Kendrick, reprising the role of true-crime obsessed mommy influencer Stephanie Smothers. And while their chemistry onscreen is as good as it was in the 2018 movie, Another Simple Favor is at its best when it lets Lively cut loose in blooming psycho-biddy fashion. 

As the previous film blended film noir and comedy, its sequel folds in influences from such campy treasures as The Talented Mr. Ripley, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, and House of Gucci. Which is to say, director Paul Feig knows his audience. 

Another Simple Favor goes bigger and bolder. 

Written by A Simple Favor’s Jessica Sharzer and Shutter Island‘s Laeta Kalogridis, this sequel is smartly self-aware. Some elements will throwback to the first movie, like Stephanie’s story beginning in media res with an update to her vlog followers. This time, instead of just being mid-investigation, Stephanie is under house arrest in a chic Italian villa in Capri, accused of murdering Emily’s husband. 

The exotic location immediately ups the spectacle of this sequel, which Feig embraces with glorious aerial shots of the landscape, a mountain peppered with gorgeous homes, a charming shopping center, a devilishly high cliff with rocks all the way down and ominously crashing waves below. But how did Stephanie wind up here? Well, while on a failing book tour for “The Faceless Blonde” — a memoir written about her time with Emily — she’s surprised by the bombshell herself. And Emily has an offer Stephanie cannot refuse: Be my maid of honor, or else I’ll sue you into oblivion for writing this book. 

See, Emily’s not only out of prison (“Out on appeal! Our legal system is so fucked,” she grins like the Cheshire Cat.) but also is remarrying a devastatingly macho Italian man named Dante Versano (Michele Morrone). And the only one this beguiling bride-to-be wants by her side at her destination wedding is her best friend — bygones be bygones? 

While obviously hesitant, Stephanie doesn’t want to be sued — plus Emily’s ambush at her book event has gotten the internet abuzz about “The Faceless Blonde.” So this trip could be great for sales — as long as she isn’t murdered (and maybe even then.) But when Emily’s husband turns up dead, Stephanie needs to clear her name — and turn up fresh clues and freaky secrets to do it! 

Blake Lively is next level in Another Simple Favor. 

Blake Lively, Michele Morrone, Alex Newell and Anna Kendrick star in “A Simple Favor.”
Credit: Amazon MGM Studio

The joys of Emily Nelson in the first film were how she was achingly chic and frankly scary. To a grade school pick-up, she wore clothes that looked like she’d just stepped off a runway. She carried herself not only with an enchanting confidence, but with an edge that threatened to slice the throat of any who would mess with her. She was a female fantasy version of the femme fatale, turning that power to seduce into a seductive power to live truly give-a-fuck free. Yet Lively also brought a tenderness to Emily’s twisted backstory and a cutting sense of humor, all of which made this villainess endlessly exciting. Her potential seemed limitless. 

In this sequel, Sharzer and Kalogridis double down on Lively, giving her fresh meat to sink her teeth into with a plotline that includes the mafia and a fresh cache of toxic family secrets. Cheekily, the screenwriters lean into this with a brief re-enactment of a classic moment from The Godfather Part 2, the rare sequel so beloved that many consider it better than its highly acclaimed original. It’s a nod to film lovers that Feig and company understand how audiences cringe at sequels — but also why we can rarely deny their appeal. We crave more. 

The more worth indulging in here is Lively smoothly switching from elegantly threatening to crassly funny to intimidatingly unhinged. The Italian backdrop, where a fish-out-water American is awed and annoyed by wealthy locals recalls The Talented Mr. Ripley, allowing the audience to ogle the gorgeous surroundings and obscene wealth while still connecting to the hero, who’s arguably a parasite, feeding off those around them. (Stephanie’s assumption that everyone at this ultra exclusive wedding would want to be backdrop in her live blogs is truly wild.) Despite her gluten-free sugar-cookie sweetness, Stephanie is after all exploiting Emily’s wedding and access to all this luxury for her blog. But the cost for admission could be her life.

While Kendrick is back in the swing of this plucky amateur sleuth, Another Simple Favor drags when Lively isn’t onscreen. Whether flirting or threatening Emily, or plunging back into a flashbacks in a moody dance hall, where she rocks the undeniable allure of Lady Gaga in House of Gucci as a blue-collar brunette wooing one of Italy’s most eligible bachelors, Lively is pure fire. And she’s got the wardrobe to match. 

Another Simple Favor‘s wardrobe is beyond outstanding. 

Blake Lively stars in “Another Simple Favor.”
Credit: Amazon MGM Studio

Feig and company are well aware that we gagged over the eleganza of Emily’s sexy power suits, and aim to top that fashion spectacle in this sequel. They do it, with aplomb. Props to the entire costume department. From the moment Emily makes her entrance, she is a vision who uses her wardrobe to speak volumes. As teased in the trailer, she swans back into Emily’s life wearing a white and gray horizontally striped suit, which while fiercely draped evokes the old-school prison uniform, up to a high button collar. 

By contrast, Stephanie’s costumes are defiantly — and comically — unchic, like when she shows up to board a private jet wearing mismatched sweatpants, dull sneakers, and a travel pillow, already secured around her neck. Meanwhile, Emily is dressed like a Golden Age gangster, her dark dress slacks and shirt set off by pale grey suspenders, a dynamically pinned tie, a fedora, and a blood-red rose. This look proves to be a warning of the kind of people who will be on that plane. 

More clues drop through fits, like on the wedding day when the bride’s veil unveils a deep red ombre on the end of her train, reminiscent of the blood spilled. Even when dripping in jewels — wearing necklaces so decadent they serve as shirts too dazzling for this world — Emily is intimidating and exhilarating. Lively is living for every look, be it brazen or outright bonkers. Simply put, Blake ate. It’s just unfortunate not every character is so thought out. 

Another Simple Favor suffers in the supporting characters — not cast. 

Bashir Salahuddin, Alex Newell, Andrew Rannells, Aparna Nancherla, Kelly McCormack star in “Another Simple Favor.”
Credit: Amazon MGM Studio

The first film offered a snarking trio of parent peers (Andrew Rannells, Kelly McCormack, and Aparna Nancherla) to provide color commentary on the dramas of Emily and Stephanie. They’re back, but only briefly as the plot swiftly abandons Stephanie’s cozy stomping grounds. But she’s not alone in Capri, bringing with her book agent Vicky (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist‘s Alex Newell), who is little more than a plot device. 

To keep Stephanie from seeming too callous, someone needs to remind the audience that drama on this trip — and yes even murder — would be great for Stephanie’s book sales. However, Vicky is such a thinly written character that — against a backdrop where nearly every other actor in this movie is white — she becomes reduced to the “sassy Black friend” stereotype, who exists solely for clips and to prop up the white heroine. While Newell shined on Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, she’s given so little to do here that she can’t register beyond this tired and problematic trope. 

Other supporting players also suffer, like Taylor Ortega as a comically unskilled stalker and Bashir Salahuddin, returning as Detective Summerville, who’s barely in the movie, with his biggest moment being on the phone while half asleep. To Morrone’s credit, while his Dante is a sketch of ferocious machismo, he brings enough verve to the part to keep things fun. 

Allison Janney and Elizabeth Perkins star in “Another Simple Plan.”
Credit: Amazon MGM Studio

While these characters are jarringly underwritten, Sharzer and Kalogridis find fresh angles for Henry Golding, who played Emily’s husband Sean in the first film, and some fresh chaos to be mined by Elizabeth Perkins, who takes over the role of Emily’s mother from Hacks‘ Jean Smart. But the real standout of the supporting cast is Allison Janey to the surprise of no one. Playing a long lost relative of Emily’s, Janey brings the sharp comic timing and chameleon-like ability to shift tone that’s made her a treasure in films like Juno, I, Tonya, and Drop Dead Gorgeous. 

Like Emily Nelson, Another Simple Favor is a shapeshifting creature, transforming in tone moment to moment to revel in biting humor, relish in mob drama, plunge into the delicious depths of mad women in the psycho-biddy subgenre, and showcase fashion, telling, sensational, and shocking. Is it better than the original? Yes and no.

This is a far messier movie that the first, where the imbalance between the appeal of the plucky Stephanie and the devious Emily is even greater than before and the supporting characters are littered with undercooked roles. However, if your favorite bits of A Simple Favor was Lively embracing her inner bad girl and delivering face and looks? You’ll cherish this divinely twisted thriller. 

Another Simple Favor was reviewed out of its world premiere at 2025 SXSW. The film will premiere on Prime Video on May 1.