Film review: 'A Simple Favor' starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick
It starts with a simple favour – high-flying (and extremely well-dressed) PR executive Emily (Blake Lively) needs her new best friend, mummy blogger Stephanie (Anna Kendrick), to pick up her son from school following a work emergency that has supposedly sent her to another state.
After failing to return to collect her son, Emily’s lifeless body is discovered in a lake outside their woodsy suburb in Connecticut. Refusing to come to terms with the idea that her friend is a heroin addict who drowned (as the evidence would suggest), the seemingly innocent Stephanie, who documents the aftermath of her friend’s death, digs for clues. Her all-consuming search for the truth leads the single mum to discover an Emily she never knew existed.
Clearly, nothing, not even loyalty, love or a small favour, is as simple as it seems...Or is it?
With lies and betrayal, loyalty and revenge at its heart, this psychological thriller (which is based on the debut novel by Darcey Bell) is the kind of movie that grips you until its final moments… even if the plot is somewhat reminiscent of that other popular novel-turned-film Gone Girl.
Despite some awkward sex scenes and extreme overuse of the F-word, the twisty mind-boggling thriller is one to watch (and the soundtrack is awesome) – just not while any kids are around. 
It's out now!
