The rare comedy sequels that have succeeded either changed the setting (National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation), aimed to be more avant-garde (Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey), grew to be more sincere (The Trip series), or heightened their absurdity to the point that the escalation is itself the joke (Wayne’s World 2). While Another Simple Favor made an attempt to crystallize the chemistry between its two stars, which turned its predecessor into a breakout success, there’s nothing about A Simple Favor that leant itself to serialization.
Paul Feig’s an influential comedy filmmakers, but he’s an artist whose attempts to branch out have been undercut by his creative limitations. While Feig created raunchy mayhem with Bridesmaids, he was incapable of bringing the same erratic sensibilities to more straightforward genre efforts, including the reviled Ghostbusters remake and the cloyingly melodramatic holiday rom-com Last Christmas. A Simple Favor was an anomaly within Feig’s career because its intentions were ambiguous; while not overtly referential to classic noir films, A Simple Favor subtly transformed from a straightforward whodunit into the exaggerated irrationality of a “beach read murder mystery.”
A Simple Favor had Anna Kendrick in the role of the widowed single mother Stephanie Smothers, whose vlogging business has earned her both minor internet fame and the ire of her community of suburban parents. Stephanie’s life is transformed upon a seemingly chance encounter with her wealthy neighbor Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), as their children were friends at school. Questions about how Emily acquired her wealth and why she’s so interested in young widows inevitably led Stephanie to discovered a greater mystery involving monetary conspiracies, marital disputes, and attempted murder.
A Simple Favor ended on a high note with its closed loop; Stephanie was established as a competent private investigator who could also raise a family on her own, and Emily had spun one web of lies too many, which left her with an extended prison sentence. Although the logic of a sequel would necessitate that the two leads with the most chemistry would reunite, Another Simple Favor is a reset in which any repercussions are ignored. Stephanie’s once again the unassuming single mother swept away on an adventure, and Emily has found a way to elude the consequences of her actions.
Although the dynamic between two characters is why A Simple Favor worked in spite of its logical inconsistencies, it's hard to grant the sequel the same leniency. Stephanie’s curiosity towards Emily in A Simple Favor was a result of the allure of status; Emily enjoyed the luxuries of wealth while being a single mother. To have Stephanie once again drawn to Emily’s lifestyle is regressive, as it doesn’t take into account how much the events of the first film shaped her new career direction. It’s also hard to imagine that Emily’s new reality is that compelling; even if she avoided any legitimate punishment, her survival is predicated on a continuous spectacle of her own making.
Escalation is also much harder for Another Simple Favor: the first film incorporated incest, legal fraud, surveillance technology, and the FBI into its wild third act. Another Simple Favor never has any notion of believability, and thus Stephanie is prevented from ever being a relatable character. While the Emily of the first film felt like an exaggerated version of a recognizable type of elite, pretentious self-starter, Lively’s performance in the sequel is closer to a comic book villain. Lively’s public reputation may have grown more contentious as a result of recent scandals, but within the context of the film, it’s no longer endearing to see Emily lie, cheat, and place the blame on others.
The shock that A Simple Favor elicited when it took a dark turn was impossible for Another Simple Favor to replicate. A Simple Favor succeeded through the insertion of comedic interpretations of broadly straightforward scenes, but Another Simple Favor constructed entire sequences that rely upon one gag; between identical twins, truth serums, and hidden stipulations within marital agreements, there’s barely any caper cliches that aren’t incorporated into Another Simple Favor.
Many great sequels benefit from a more substantial role for characters underserved in the original; Harrison Ford’s Han Solo had more prominence in The Empire Strikes Back compared to Star Wars, and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-1000 swapped his allegiance in between the first and second Terminator films. While A Simple Favor has a compelling supporting cast that consisted of Henry Golding as Emily’s ex-husband, Andrew Rannells as Stephanie’s snark neighbor, and Bashir Salahuddin as the whip-smart Detective Ben Summerville, these characters are superfluous to the narrative of Another Simple Favor. Elizabeth Smart had many of the best lines in A Simple Favor as Emily’s no-nonsense mother, but she’s replaced in the sequel with Elizabeth Perkins, whose chemistry with Lively is nonexistent.
The announcement that Another Simple Favor would debut on Amazon Prime Video, and not in theaters, resulted in anxiety among those that closely follow the box office. In a time where studios are desperate to draw audiences to theaters with sustainable franchises, it felt irresponsible to sacrifice the longevity of a potential series for the sake of an undefinable boost in Prime Video viewership. However, Another Simple Favor shouldn’t be compared to all-time great sequels like Aliens or Before Sunset, as it has more in common with direct-to-DVD cash grabs like American Psycho 2 or Aladdin 2: The Return of Jafar. Feig may have created a breakout surprise, but he’s also responsible for the destruction of its future.