Alfred Hitchcock is probably the most influential director ever. His fingerprints can be seen all over 20th and 21st century storytelling. From the books of Patricia Highsmith to the films of Brian De Palma, David Fincher and of late, Steven Soderbergh. I never expected Paul Feig to start channeling him though. The fella who directed the masterful trio of Spy, Bridesmaids and The Heat has now turned his hand to the thriller genre and not surprisingly he's made a pretty good job of it.
Quiet and timid Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) is a constantly apologetic single mother who fills her time by being a PTA over achiever in her son's school and posting video blogs of her cookery. Her extra curricular activities alienate the other school parents making her lonely so of course she jumps at the chance of friendship with the glamorous and mysterious Emily (Blake Lively) when it arises. Before she knows it's it she's in the midst of a dysfunctional relationship that grows even stranger when one day Emily vanishes off the face of the earth.
I enjoyed this. It's Gillian Flynn meets Hitchcock but sprinkled with a liberal dash of humour and it's every bit as fun as that sounds. The trailers for it sold it as a straight mystery drama but a very entertaining performance from Anna Kendrick as an initially mousy woman forced out of her shell turns it into something quite different. It's twisty and turny and a couple of late reveals may force a guffaw out of you but it never cheats and everything that happens happens for a reason. It's a film that brazenly wears it's influences on it's sleeve. A shout out to a french horror/thriller classic set in a school feels a bit too on the nose but a blonde femme fatale, some weird family relationships and unresolved familial traumas all pop up, all the tropes that have been the ingredients of all film noirs and classic thrillers over the years. I'm not saying this film compares to those classics but it's always a joy seeing these genre staples getting a fresh roll out.
Kendrick owns the film. An early scene where she bluntly relates a brutal past trauma will have you empathizing with her straight away. She also has great comic timing and one tense moment of her trapped in a piece of clothing that most certainly does not belong to her will make you laugh and squirm. She sells her part in a way that you are never quite sure what direction the story is about to take and more than once you'll find yourself tripping over an assumption you've already made about her. Her blog is used throughout the film as a narrative and framing device and while it does actually serve a genuine purpose come the end of the film it feels a bit annoying when the action cuts back to her speaking into her webcam and it does at times make the film feel a bit episodic. Blake Lively plays a fun part too but it's harder to talk about her part without spoiling anything. She brings a nice edge to the story though and carries herself well when the twists and turns veer towards the sillier side of things. And believe me they do.
This is Paul Feig's 5th film with women in the lead and I hope he keeps making them. Spy and The Heat rocked. Bridesmaid was great craic. Ghostbusters was messy but more of it hit the spot than didn't. A Simple Favour is like that too. Some of it doesn't work but enough does that you'll enjoy yourself. One thing it does really well is building a believable relationship between the leads and in that it's similar to his other movies. It feels genuine and not forced like a lot of quick film friendships tend to. The two are chalk and cheese and one moment of Emily telling Stephanie to stop saying sorry all the time will definitely ring a bell with certain watchers. The shittier sides of friendships crop up too, one side putting everything in, spilling their guts and the other not really caring or happy to just take. Just like real life sadly. It's easy to tell the story was written by a woman. It's adapted by Jessica Sharzer from the book of the same title by Darcey Bell. It's always good when a story takes the time to build it's characters and their complexities up before horsing a wrecking ball at them.
A film that's a bit messy and overly confusing in parts but a great showing from Anna Kendrick will win you over. Definitely worth a watch.
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