SXSW film festival: Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively return in Amazon’s ridiculous yet glossily enjoyable follow-up to 2018’s fan favorite

On paper, there are plenty of reasons to make a follow-up to A Simple Favor, Paul Feig’s 2018 comic mystery film starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively as two delusive, scheming suburban moms. Though it gestured at being a serious thriller – a sort of Gone Girl for cable channel – the film, based on the 2017 novel by Darcey Bell, ultimately devolved into ridiculousness, untethered from logic yet with plenty of road for more twists. Lively’s Emily Nelson, an archly manipulative psychopath straight out of a Justin Baldoni lawsuit, remains her best work since Gossip Girl. And most pertinent to Amazon MGM studios, the film found post-theatrical success on streaming, becoming a modern camp classic during the pandemic.

But Feig, by his own admission at the SXSW film festival on Friday evening, is wary of sequels, and for good reason – rarely does lightning strike twice, especially in suburban Connecticut. A Simple Favor ended in settled-enough fashion, with (spoiler alert) Emily in prison for the murder of her secret identical twin sister and attempted murder of her husband, Kendrick’s Stephanie, a successful mommy vlogger, and their hapless mutual ex Sean (Henry Golding) living in peace in San Diego.

SXSW film festival: Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively return in Amazon’s ridiculous yet glossily enjoyable follow-up to 2018’s fan favorite

On paper, there are plenty of reasons to make a follow-up to A Simple Favor, Paul Feig’s 2018 comic mystery film starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively as two delusive, scheming suburban moms. Though it gestured at being a serious thriller – a sort of Gone Girl for cable channel – the film, based on the 2017 novel by Darcey Bell, ultimately devolved into ridiculousness, untethered from logic yet with plenty of road for more twists. Lively’s Emily Nelson, an archly manipulative psychopath straight out of a Justin Baldoni lawsuit, remains her best work since Gossip Girl. And most pertinent to Amazon MGM studios, the film found post-theatrical success on streaming, becoming a modern camp classic during the pandemic.

But Feig, by his own admission at the SXSW film festival on Friday evening, is wary of sequels, and for good reason – rarely does lightning strike twice, especially in suburban Connecticut. A Simple Favor ended in settled-enough fashion, with (spoiler alert) Emily in prison for the murder of her secret identical twin sister and attempted murder of her husband, Kendrick’s Stephanie, a successful mommy vlogger, and their hapless mutual ex Sean (Henry Golding) living in peace in San Diego.

• Bobby Thomas grabs added-time winner for Sky Blues
• Millwall come from behind for 2-1 victory at Watford

Bobby Thomas scored a last-gasp winner to give Coventry a thrilling 3-2 win against Stoke at the CBS Arena. Victor Torp had scored a first-half double to put the Sky Blues ahead before substitute Sam Gallagher netted two of his own to haul Stoke level. But Thomas sent the home fans into raptures in the seventh minute of added time when he thumped home to earn his side a ninth win in 10 league outings.

The fixture was also the return of Stoke’s manager Mark Robins after he was sacked by the Sky Blues in November. Robins’s seven-year reign featured two promotions, a Championship playoff final defeat to Luton on penalties and FA Cup semi-final heartbreak against Manchester United last season.

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The report via Peter Lansley has dropped from the City Ground.

As he rightly writes: “Manchester City continued their plummet from Premier League champions to scrambling to qualify for the Champions League, but the achievements of [Nottingham Forest] deserve full recognition”.

Participants view scenes of daily life as well as travel adventures – then process the emotions they trigger through art

One Monday in July, Samantha Tovar, known as Royal, left her 6ft-by-11ft cell for the first time in three weeks. Correctional officers escorted her to the common area of the Central California Women’s Facility and chained her hands and feet to a metal table, on top of which sat a virtual reality headset. Two and a half years into a five-year prison sentence, Royal was about to see Thailand for the first time.

When she first put on the headset, Royal immediately had an aerial view of a cove. Soon after, her view switched to a boat moving fairly fast with buildings on either side of the water. In the boat was a man with a backpack, and it was as if she were sitting beside him. With accompanying meditative music and narration, the four-minute scene took Royal across a crowded Thai market, through ancient ruins, on a tuk-tuk (a three-wheeled rickshaw) and into an elephant bath with her backpacked companion. For Royal, these vignettes felt real enough to be deserving of a passport stamp.

Participants view scenes of daily life as well as travel adventures – then process the emotions they trigger through art

One Monday in July, Samantha Tovar, known as Royal, left her 6ft-by-11ft cell for the first time in three weeks. Correctional officers escorted her to the common area of the Central California Women’s Facility and chained her hands and feet to a metal table, on top of which sat a virtual reality headset. Two and a half years into a five-year prison sentence, Royal was about to see Thailand for the first time.

When she first put on the headset, Royal immediately had an aerial view of a cove. Soon after, her view switched to a boat moving fairly fast with buildings on either side of the water. In the boat was a man with a backpack, and it was as if she were sitting beside him. With accompanying meditative music and narration, the four-minute scene took Royal across a crowded Thai market, through ancient ruins, on a tuk-tuk (a three-wheeled rickshaw) and into an elephant bath with her backpacked companion. For Royal, these vignettes felt real enough to be deserving of a passport stamp.