Blake Lively has resurfaced on the red carpet, her luminous presence heralding the South by Southwest premiere of the keenly anticipated sequel Another Simple Favor, slated to grace Amazon Prime Video screens soon. Amidst a vortex of lawsuits, relentless legal filings, and a PR skirmish with her husband Ryan Reynolds against the multihyphenate It Ends With Us filmmaker Justin Baldoni, Lively’s career finds itself at a precarious juncture.
To enunciate it plainly, the upcoming black comedy’s successor bears a predisposition to propel Lively’s trajectory more than ever, a year after her liaisons with Baldoni precipitated an unforeseen fallout.
Co-starring Anna Kendrick, Another Simple Favor has transpired into its initial screenings, inciting a critical reaction which is neither here nor there. On Rotten Tomatoes, the thriller languishes at a tepid 72%, with 18 critics having ventured their verdicts. Thirteen asseverated approval, effectuating an average of 6.2/10 — a perplexing middle ground, neither emblazoned as “fresh” nor castigated as “rotten.”
The thundercloudy tally awaits the rigorous dissection of “top critics” from titan publications, leaving its fate imminent yet uncharted. Over at Metacritic, Another Simple Favor nestles in the yellow at 59, a score indicative of “generally mixed reviews” after 12 pundits weighed in.
For context, the original A Simple Favor, a 2018 gem that’s since accrued a cult retinue, commandeered an 84% fresh rating and a resounding 6.9/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, with a Metacritic 67 signaling “generally favorable” commendation. Paul Feig’s voracious directorial hand, honed in Bridesmaids, galvanized that triumph.
Kendrick’s latest fares as a vexatious letdown against her luminous directorial debut Woman of the Hour (91% and 74) and Pitch Perfect (82% and 66), though it surmounts Twilight and The Accountant (53% and 51). For Lively, Another Simple Favor outruns the now infamous It Ends With Us (55% and 53) and the abject Green Lantern (25% and 39), while jostling neck-and-neck with The Shallows (78% and 59).
Over at IMDb, the sequel sits at a detrimental 2.9/10. While on a peripheral note, such a catastrophic display could be discerned as a sign of review-bombing, in hindsight, the aggregator mean is higher at a 3.3/10 and it’s not the 1/10 but the 10/10 ratings that IMDb has calibrated suspicious.
Another Simple Favor charts Stephanie Smothers and Emily Nelson’s tempestuous reunion on Italy’s sumptuous shores, where Emily’s lavish nuptials to a wealthy Italian magnate incite everything from glamour to murder and treachery.
Another Simple Favor is slated to arrive on Prime Video on May 1.
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