A Simple Favor

Release Date: September 14, 2018​​​

I was very skeptical about watching this movie in theaters because of its ad campaign. It seemed to give off a vibe that movies just don't portray, in a bad way. But when all of the positive coverage of the movie came out, I decided to go see it. This proved to be the right choice because its the best movie I've seen in over a month.

The movie's greatest strength is in Blake Lively's performance. The only other time I have seen her in a movie was back in 2011, you know, the Green Lantern movie. But here, she does a really great job bringing to life a very odd character. She makes it believable and gets you to buy into this very weird movie. Her portrayal of the character really sets the movie's tone and it sticks all the way up to the last act.

Everyone else did a serviceable enough job acting, except for some of the kid scenes, so no one else stood out. The thing that is supposed to make this movie special, is that its kind of a detective movie. It's like a mystery movie decided to be a romantic chick flick but then twists the romantic parts to be uncomfortable. The detective parts don't really work either, in the movie they even refer to a character as Nancy Drew and it fits. It's not a compliment when I say the mystery is a far-fetched roller coaster that plateaus during the second act break.

The first two-thirds of this movie is fine. Starts off strong, dips a little in the middle, but its the end that grounds the movie to a halt. The situation that the story comes up with to resolve the movie is straight up dumb. It even has the nerve to have white text over a black background like its some real story movie. It just felt silly and cheap the way it ended and doesn't end with the best last impression.

If you haven't been to the theater in months and depending on what your local theater is showing, this might be the best thing to watch. It works when it does and you cringe when it doesn't. If someone were to want to watch it after it comes to streaming, I wouldn't mind watching it again.

6/10
Snarky comment here