This article contains plenty of spoilers for Another Simple Favor. Like most sequels, Another Simple Favor goes bigger than its 2018 predecessor. Gone is the rustic northern Michigan summer camp of A Simple Favor, replaced here by the Italian island of Capri. It’s there that luxurious murderer Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) has been living since the end of the first film. Meanwhile no longer a mommy blogger living a life of quiet upper-middle-class desperation, Stephanie Sommers (Anna Kendrick) has also parlayed her story from the first film into a successful career as a true crime podcaster and author. But perhaps the appeal of Stephanie’s book, like of A Simple Favor itself, rested on its twists. In which case, Another Simple Favor attempts to go bigger and outdo the first film there as well. Which is where it runs into problems. For a recap: the big twist of the first film came after authorities found Emily’s body drowned in a lake. When a suspicious Stephanie keeps following clues, she discovers that the body was actually not Emily’s, but that of her twin sister. In fact, Emily has two identical twin sisters, one of whom apparently died in childbirth and the other who lived a hard life and was killed after trying to blackmail Emily. It kind of put to shame Stephanie’s admission earlier in that film that she carried on an affair with her half-brother (making her “Brother Fucker” as Emily teased). Another Simple Favor exists to quadruple both of those plot twists and ramp up the shock value exponentially. But in doing so, the movie reveals its weaknesses, leaving us wanting the darker, trashier movie it could have been. The Setup Another Simple Favor finds Stephanie reunited with Emily when, at the urging of her agent (Alex Newell), she goes to Capri to celebrate her old friend’s wedding. Emily plans to marry Dante Versano (Michele Morrone), a mafioso who has proposed peace with the rival Bartolo family as a wedding present. Also present is Emily’s first husband (and Stephanie’s one-time lover) Sean (Henry Goulding), who has brought their son Nicky (Ian Ho) to witness. Despite the beautiful setting, trouble rocks the lead up to Emily and Dante’s nuptials. Now a bitter drunk, Sean misses no opportunity to insult Emily and Stephanie. Dante’s mother Portia (Elena Sofia Ricci) refuses to hide her disdain for Emily, even inviting her drunken mother Margaret McLinden (Elizabeth Perkins, replacing Jean Smart from the first film) and Aunt Linda (Allison Janney). Then there’s Matteo Bartolo (Lorenzo de Moor), who seems deeply distrustful of the event. So when people on the island start dying—first Sean, then Dante, then Margaret, and even an FBI agent (Taylor Ortega) sent to observe—there are plenty of culprits to blame. The truth comes out in a series of reveals that make up the last third of the film. Emily has agreed to marry Dante because he’s gay, in love with Matteo. In exchange for providing cover from his mother, Dante will give Emily a lavish and responsibility-free lifestyle. Furthermore, the killer is Emily’s other twin sister Charity, who did not die, but was hidden away by Aunt Linda. With Faith dead and Emily about to marry rich, Linda has deployed Charity to make a way to replace Emily, thus giving her access to riches. Unlikely? Yes. Plot-heavy? You bet. But the real problem comes shortly after the reveal that Charity lives, and it’s a twist that feels more designed to shock viewers than to serve the plot. Twins in Love Twist Presented as a sheltered and troubled religious person, Charity gives Lively an opportunity to stretch her acting muscles, which she does unconvincingly enough. Where Lively feels more than comfortable showcasing her character’s stunning fashions, she is flat and implausible as Charity, unsure if she should be funny or tragic or scary. So she fails at all of the above. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! The crazed Charity drugs Emily and drags her back to her room where the two lie on the bed. There she explains “we are one” and declares that she felt what Hope felt when Emily drowned her in the lake. She feels what Emily feels when she had sex with Sean. She wants to consummate their oneness and use their connection to share even greater levels of ecstasy. So we watch from both an overhead and profile shot as Charity molests Emily, kissing her and running a hand between her legs. Lively plays a look of fear on revulsion on Emily’s nearly-catatonic face, but she’s far more animated as Charity, who coos and whispers during the molestation. Moreover, when we cut back to Emily, who has been explaining what Charity did to Stephanie, the moment’s played as a joke. “Sister Fucker!” exclaims Stephanie, thrilled to get one over on her cooler frienemy. Jokes about sexual assault are nothing new to movies (see: any prison comedy ever), and there’s certainly room for tasteless humor. But Another Simple Favor wants to have it both ways. It wants us to be horrified and shocked and aroused by the image of Blake Lively making out with Blake Lively, so much so that they do it again at the movie’s climax when Emily needs to distract Charity. But more than that, it wants us to laugh at Stephanie’s adorable awkwardness and be awed by Emily’s effortless cool. The latter two impulses worked together in A Simple Favor, but by upping the edginess for the sequel, Another Simple Favor collapses under its mishmash of tones, making the viewer feel nothing but confusion. And it’s hardly the only time this happens. Keep It Simple As with A Simple Favor, Another Simple Favor is directed by Paul Feig (from a script by Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis). At his best, Feig combines improv comedy with genuine human emotion, as demonstrated in the classic series Freaks & Geeks (co-created with fellow improv enthusiast Judd Apatow) and the movies Bridesmaids and Spy. When Feig tries to get ambitious, he gets overwhelmed by the scale and loses control of both humor and scope, leaving his actors to just riff. In those cases, we get unfunny messes like Ghostbusters (2016) and Another Simple Favor. Fundamentally, Feig wants his movies to be funny and he likes giving his funny performers space to do their work. So Another Simple Favor constantly turns toward wry asides from Kendrick, or bits by supporting players such as Newell or Andrew Rannells, Kelly McCormack, and Aparna Nancherla. But because he’s so focused on the plot, Feig can’t give these performers to the room to do good work, forcing them to play obvious character types. Kendrick is cute and awkward. Newell is big and brassy. Rannells is sardonic and cutting. Worse, the jokes come as punctuation to plot points that should be raising the story’s stakes. As a result, the underbaked comedy dilutes everything else the movie’s trying to do. The intrigue of the murder plot can’t draw us in when Kendrick’s constantly saying, “Uh, that just happened.” The beauty of the setting can’t enthrall us when the camera keeps cutting away to Newell mugging. And the dark sexuality of Charity’s assault neither upsets nor compels us when it all sets up a gotcha punchline from Kendrick. Feig seems to want Another Simple Favor to be The Talented Mr. Ripley or The White Lotus. But he can’t let go of the obvious gags, so it ends up being a big mess. Another Simple Favor isn’t funny or shocking or sexy. And that’s because it’s anything but simple. Another Simple Favor is streaming on Amazon Prime Video on May 1.