Movie · 2018 · Thriller, Comedy, Mystery · 1h 57m · R · English
Curator score: 3.5/10 (639.8K ratings)
Can you keep a secret?
Overview
Stephanie, a dedicated mother and popular vlogger, befriends Emily, a mysterious upper-class woman whose son Nicky attends the same school as Miles, Stephanie's son. When Emily asks her to pick Nicky up from school and then disappears, Stephanie undertakes an investigation that will dive deep into Emily's cloudy past.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.5/10
IMDb: 6.7/10
Letterboxd: 3.12/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%
Metacritic: 67
TMDB: 6.6/10
Director
Paul Feig
Production
Feigco Entertainment, Bron Studios
Cast
Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Rupert Friend, Linda Cardellini, Bashir Salahuddin, Danielle Bourgon, Kelly McCormack, Andrew Rannells, Ian Ho, Joshua Satine, Paul Jurewicz, Roger Dunn, Dustin Milligan, Eric Johnson, Jason Oliveira, Patti Harrison, Ava LaFramboise, Jean Smart, Sarah Baker
Curator Review
Verdict
A glossy, mischievous thriller-comedy with strong chemistry, sharp costume-and-mood appeal, and a knowingly trashy sense of fun. It’s more entertaining as a stylish hangout mystery than as a tightly engineered suspense film, so the payoff depends on whether you want campy intrigue or clean plotting.
Best for
Viewers who like glossy domestic thrillers with a comic edge
Fans of fashion-forward, femme-driven mystery stories
People in the mood for twisty but lightweight entertainment
Audiences who enjoy camp and heightened performances
Skip if
You want a serious, tightly realistic thriller
You’re allergic to tonal whiplash between comedy and crime
You prefer mysteries that play fair and stay grounded
You dislike glossy, self-aware suburban melodrama
Overview
A Simple Favor works best as a piece of stylish mischief. It takes a familiar missing-person setup and dresses it in martinis, designer tailoring, mommy-blog satire, and a playful sense of sexual and social intrigue. The movie’s pleasures are less about suspense mechanics than about attitude, image, and the escalating absurdity of its characters.
Worth noting
The cast keeps it moving, especially in the friction between the anxious, overcommitted outsider and the ice-cold enigma at the center. Paul Feig leans into the camp without fully abandoning the thriller framework, which gives the film a breezy, slightly unstable energy. That instability is part of the appeal, even when the plot gets too busy for its own good.
Bottom line
If you want a sleek, knowingly trashy mystery with strong visual polish and a mean streak, it delivers. If you want a rigorous whodunit, it’s more of a vibe than a puzzle. As a glossy adult thriller with a comic wink, though, it’s easy to see why it became such a crowd-pleaser.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Ellie ✨ (4.5★) · 5873 likes
me watching literally any thriller: ok so here are the parallels between this and gone girl (2014, dir. david fincher)
kar 🥀 (3★) · 5243 likes
all i wanted was for them to kill the man and run away together but i guess you cant always get what you want
scoobert doo (aka mo) (4★) · 4871 likes
do 🙅♀️ NOT 🙅♂️ see 🔎👀 this movie ❌ 🎥 ❌
it WILL turn you gay 👨❤️💋👨👩❤️💋👩🏳️🌈
I didn’t listen 👂🏼 to my 👯♀️friends🤝
NOW?? i am a hoe-mo-sensual 😭🤧
cinéfila... 🕯️ (3★) · 4674 likes
anna kendrick: normalize incest normalize incest normalize incest
blake lively: shut up i'm doing my amy dunne impression