‘A SIMPLE FAVOR’: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO EMILY NELSON?

Darcey Bell’s novel, “A Simple Favor,” came to life as a film in 2018. Anna Kendrick plays a widowed single mother, Stephanie Smothers, who works as a vlogger in Connecticut. She has a hard time connecting with other moms until she meets the one and only Emily Nelson, who is played by Blake Lively.

Emily seems to have it all: a beautiful house, perfect job, perfect husband, perfect life. One would dream to live like her. The two women embark on a rollercoaster style friendship when their sons unite them. They later bond over a nice frozen gin with a hint of lemon as they reveal their past to one another.

How well do these ladies really know each other, though? Stephanie would do anything to help a friend, especially one she feels close to. One day Emily asks Stephanie to watch her son, which seems like a simple favor.

However, Emily suddenly goes missing. Stephanie, and Emily’s husband, Sean, (Henry Golding) immediately start searching for this mysterious, beautiful woman. Throughout this investigation, Stephanie starts to realize that she doesn’t know Emily as well as she thought she did. What made her disappear? Why would such a beautiful girl want to be so invisible – if it were her own doing?

When you get close to Emily, you can’t really reach her, Stephanie finds. She will always leave you wondering. As days go by, Stephanie continues to dig deep into her best friend’s past only to find out some shocking secrets. Sean isn’t the most loyal spouse; lies, cheating, affairs, and sneakiness runs within the family. No one is innocent.

“Once you go poking around Emily’s past, you’re going to find something that is terrifying. She is not a normal person like you or me,” says an old friend that Stephanie meets along the way.

Aside from the intriguing storyline, what makes this film so intriguing is the suspenseful buildup. The characters dive deeper and deeper into Emily’s past, which is stunning at times. The script is written so well that it ties the whole story together. The director (Paul Feig) gives each character a mysterious, yet sophisticated role that entices viewers to wonder what’s next.

Also, the camera angles and slow-motion shots in this film are amazing. Especially in the opening scene, you’ll notice the way the camera is set on Emily as she meets Stephanie for the first time. You can almost already tell what kind of person she is, based on the camera shots. It is absolutely incredible.

Every scene in the movie adds up to the very end. You’ve never seen a true plot twist until the climax of A Simple Favor! Feig did an excellent job on dropping the mic at the perfect time, and there are multiple jaw-dropping moments through the film that contribute to its excellence. This movie goes in so many directions that viewers absolutely have to pay attention to detail, lest they miss something!

There is not one part of this film where it falls short. In every scene there will be a new discovery based on Emily’s disappearance. She burns bridges with every person she crosses paths with in her life. Little does she know, soon all of her deep dark secrets will soon catch up to her.

Will this mystery be solved? Why don’t you pour yourself an ice-cold gin with a hint of lemon and find out.

Movie Rating: 9/10 stars