A SIMPLE FAVOR 3.5***

     I came into this movie not knowing what to expect. If you've seen thrillers like Gone Girl you get the general gist of this movie.   What  I was not ready for was the excellent blending of comedy into such a gripping suspense thriller. Between Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively there are  plenty of laughs to go around especially when both share the screen time together. Their chemistry is stunning.  

Anna Kendrick plays Stephanie, an uptight  single mom who, when not doting on her cute son, keeps up a cooking/crafts VLOG ( a “vlog” is a video log of a person’s thoughts, opinions or interest usually collected on YouTube) with a tiny audience. One day, while picking up her son at school, she encounters  a mom of a different kind, played to BASIC INSTINCT perfection by Blake Lively. A case study in dead-eyed assertiveness, her Emily oozes strong-willed fashionista while Stephanie has her  meek but sweet passive-aggressive down pat. Quicker than you can say, "Play Date!" the women bond at Emily's gorgeous home over martinis and swapped stories about their wicked pasts.  

After being asked  "a simple favor" by  Emily  to pick up her son from school, Emily’s then total disappearance sends  Stephanie into a spiral of mystery, passion, and shocking discoveries. Stephanie does all she can to find Emily, taking such Nancy Drew action steps as scanning through microfiche at the library and snooping around Emily's office at a NY Fashion Design empire.  As she searches for clues, Stephanie learns that neither she nor anybody else knew Emily very well at all.

Take every trashy supermarket novel and Lifetime Network movie imaginable, stew them together into a pot, and you've got yourself Director Paul Feig's ( did “Bridesmaids”, “Heat” and “Spy” ) newest film. That's not a bad thing at all, though, thanks to Feig's strong direction and a wickedly talented cast led by the always phenomenal Anna Kendrick. Kendrick's    (especially when comedic) is right on point with every single line, mannerism, and endearing little fumble she makes, It's easily one of the most fun performances of the year. Lively's performance is also outstanding. Some people think she only has opportunities because she is married to Ryan Reynolds. But she is quite talented as well as gorgeous.

Overall the movie was a lot of fun and as well as a puzzler. The plot maintains its twists and turns as you would expect in a mystery/thriller and and at the same time delivers many funny quips and laughs that don’t feel overused or out of place. 

Rated R (for sexual content and language and some  nude images, drug use and violence.