A Simple Favor

When two grade-school boys beg for a playdate, what’s a conscientious mom to do? Uptight Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) starts hanging out with glamorous Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), sipping martinis in the afternoon and exchanging intimate secrets while their respective sons—Miles (Joshua Satine) and Nicky (Ian Ho)—romp around. Certainly, they are unlikely best friends. A widowed, stay-at-home single mom, Stephanie does a perky, Martha Stewart-ish video blog, posting household hints/recipes, while career-driven Emily works in Manhattan, doing PR for a high-powered fashion designer (Rupert Friend), and her British novelist husband Sean (Henry Golding) copes with writer’s block. Sophisticated Emily is obviously amused by Stephanie’s awkwardly puritan demeanor, while prim, self-deprecating Stephanie is dazzled by Emily’s caustic, irreverent quips and fabulously chic lifestyle. But when Emily suddenly goes missing after asking Stephanie the simple favor of picking up Nicky and watching him for a few hours, the film shifts to a sinister mystery with the possibility of murder. Stephanie drops the bumbling goofiness and goes into detective mode, forming a relationship with Sean, who describes inscrutable Emily as “a beautiful ghost, never entirely there.” Paul Feig directs this overly convoluted, Hitchcockian adaptation of Darcey Bell’s 2017 titular novel, but the film itself is uneven as he tries to combine disparate elements into a comedic thriller. Still, Kendrick and Lively deliver strong performances in this stylish, suspenseful, suburban neo-noir. A strong optional purchase. (S. Granger)