A Simple Favor, based on the novel by Darcey Bell - Seven out of 10

A Simple Favor, based on the novel by Darcey Bell

Seven out of 10

Gone Girl with a twist?

It somehow seems like a version of the more successful, recent crime story where a Girl is missing, she is assumed to be dead, killed by her husband and then she comes out of the woods – well, not exactly) and we hear a story of torment and trauma.

Anna Kendrick has the role of the main character, Stephanie Smothers, a single, widowed parent that to begin with seems innocent, moral, ingénue, virtuous and modest, but will gradually grow to be more determined, less sorry for her small mistakes and so audacious as to start a private investigation all on her own.

She meets Blake Lively aka Emily Nelson -the luscious, sophisticated – up to point where she starts cursing and showing a cruel demeanor perhaps -, rich, outgoing, rebellious, insulting, unconventional, rather mean and forward woman.

They both have children and the same school and when they come to pick them up, Emily invites the other parent and her son to their resplendent mansion, a ravishing, modern construction that the spoiled owner complains about.

The rich, pretentious host drinks very strong martinis and starts talking about excesses and secrets very soon, confessing to a threesome that took place recently and then pressing the guest to share her intimate story, which involves a half-brother met at the funeral of their shared father.

The apparently innocent Stephanie admits to being confused, traumatized by the loss of the parent that she saw as an emotional anchor and then, as she makes the bed for this sibling, she looks for compassion in his arms and kisses him.

That is all? Asks the bewildered, naughty interlocutor, who insists this was not all and proposes “she fucked him”.

The story teller has to accept this when pushed and then the narrative becomes sinister, for during a celebration, taking place later on, her husband would be very angered by the closeness between brother and sister, sure that there is more and vocalizing this certitude:

You are like a lover with your brother! Admit there is more! Is Miles my son?! Tell me!

Do you hear yourself? How can you say that?

Anyway, the fact is that after this scene, brother and husband go out in a very nervous ford car – was it the famous mustang? – and they both end up in a tragic car crash – that had been mentioned before, with that the illuminating circumstances – that we now learn was in fact a murder and suicide.

Stephanie offers to take care of Nicky, the son of the libertine woman and her husband, Sean Townsend, portrayed by Henry Golding – I thought the performance of this actor detrimental to the whole feature, for he has a forced, artificial manner of acting, exaggerating the words, the spaces between them, altogether giving an impression of infatuation, melodrama, cabotinage…but I could be wrong.

One day, the preposterous Emily calls and asks her “best friend” to take her son and help her, for she has a situation at work that would turn out to keep her away for…days- when four days – was it four? – have passed, Stephanie calls Henry, after repeated and failed attempt to get in touch with the mother.

The spouse was in Britain. Where his mother has had an accident, but he returns home and then they call the place to explain about the circumstances and the fact that the mother is in Miami and has not given any sign for some days.

A woman with her profile is spotted, driving a Kia car – which is the model she has rented at an airport – and then they soon find the vehicle submerged in a lake and then the corpse of the missing woman.

This is not all; the investigation focused on the husband reveals that he had paid for a life insurance policy, just before the tragedy, that would pay him four million dollars now that the spouse is dead.

Events that are more bizarre take place, such as the sighting of his mother, reported by Nicky, then calls from the same supposedly dead woman received by Stephanie, who starts an affair just after the funeral – actually on the very day her former friend is buried.

To find the truth, the now intrepid widow, put away her initial shyness, modesty, reserved manner and acts like Sherlock Holmes, hiding in the office of the late friend to find interesting evidence.

She then travels to a religious camp and finds the trace of the family of the deceased, together with incriminating evidence from the past, dead and living relatives that shed a new light on the crime, murder.

Obviously, there would be no more details here, even though the steps taken to solve the mystery are not as thrilling as to justify time spend watching this rather ordinary motion picture.