Twisty, testy and tasty, A Simple Favor is watchability on a silver platter

I love a movie that can keep me guessing, one that doesn’t reveal plot twists coming from a mile away. Throw in killer (literally) fashion, arch humor and an utterly engaging cast, and you have one fabulous movie in my book, or on my website as the case may be.

The ever charming Anna Kendrick plays Stephanie, who is such the ultimate mom nerd she live-streams a chirpy vlog from her kitchen, covering scintillating subjects like baking zucchini chocolate chip cookies to crafting friendship bracelets. Is all that perkiness for real, or is there an edge hiding deep down, just waiting to cut it’s way through the surface?

Blake Lively is Emily, Stephanie’s polar opposite, a spiky, Louboutin strutting PR executive. The two become friends when their first grade sons beg for a playdate. But she couldn’t be all stiletto, could she? She must have a softer side, doesn’t she? Doesn’t she?

When Emily mysteriously disappears one day after asking Stephanie to do her the simple favor of picking up her son from school, everyone, including Emily’s hunky husband Sean (Henry Golding) is left in an agitated quandary, trying to find out who Emily really is and what might have happened to her.

In the skillful hands of director Paul Feig, (Spy, Bridesmaids, Knocked Up) you would expect it to be a broad comedy, but instead, it’s a bubbly blend of noir, humor, style and suspense.

If the Academy misguidedly did decide to give out Oscars for sheer entertainment value, A Simple Favor would be a slam dunk nominee, if not the winner. The film’s biggest flaw is that it makes you so ridiculously thirsty for a dry martini you’ll wish you were in a theater that stocked vodka at the concessions stand.

Rated R

1 Hour 56 Minutes

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Twisty, testy and tasty, A Simple Favor is watchability on a silver platter