Topics: Netflix, Blake Lively, Film and TV, Rotten Tomatoes
Netflix subscribers don't have long left to catch a Blake Lively movie people are saying 'really hits the spot.'
The actress has made headlines in recent months due to her ongoing legal battle with It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni, with the pair due to face each other in court next March.
Since, though, Lively has returned to our screens in an Amazon Prime Video follow-up to a popular 2018 comedy-thriller.
Alongside Anna Kendrick, the duo reunited for Another Simple Favor - set half a decade after the original movie, A Simple Favor.
Advert
The sequel has received mixed critics from fans, but it seems as though its original is still a fan favorite.
A Simple Favor is streaming now on Netflix, but not for much longer; it's being removed in a matter of days.
The story follows Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick), a quirky and earnest single mother who runs a parenting vlog.
She becomes friends with the glamorous and enigmatic Emily Nelson (Lively), a PR executive with the seemingly perfect life.
One day, Emily asks Stephanie for a simple favor: to pick up her son from school.
Emily then vanishes without a trace, prompting Stephanie to investigate the disappearance. What follows is a twisty, darkly comedic thriller filled with secrets, betrayals and shocking revelations.
You can watch the trailer here:
A Simple Favour actually received significantly higher Rotten Tomatoes ratings from both critics and fans - at 84 percent and 73 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, Another Simple Favor scored 62 percent and 38 percent instead - with its predecessor holding a stronger appeal.
One hard-won fan said of A Simple Favor: "I like to call myself a heavy critic when it comes to GOOD movies. This one really hit the spot," adding: "Amazing film and story line, filled with plot twists towards the second half."
A second praised: "This movie is what I like to call theatrical comfort food. An intriguing story, a few good twist, brilliant actors playing perfectly cast roles, easily one of my favorite go-to movies."
A third agreed: "Way more entertaining than expected... both hilarious, and twisty enough to be compelling, with characters you actually are interested in."
There's one mind-boggling scene from the sequel which traumatized viewers - and may have something to do with its lower ratings.
As well as playing Emily, Lively portrays her character's presumed-dead triplet Charity - who, turns out, is very much alive.
And the pair go on to share a kiss in a moment that left fans 'horrified.'
One person penned: "Another Simple Favor is the strangest incest-filled movie i have ever watched," as a second agreed: "The lesbian incest in Another Simple Favor was a surprise."
Someone else penned: "GUYSSSS I AM HORRIFIED. I decided to watch Another Simple Favor and why is Blake Lively’s characters twin making sexual advances to her HEEELPP."
Addressing the controversial scene, writer Jessica Sharzer told The Hollywood Reporter the team 'wanted to embrace' the original movie's 'big gay following'.
“We wanted to meet those fans and not disappoint them. And so we were looking for opportunities to tell really great stories that also have a queer element to them,” she said.
She added, in part: “As far as we’re concerned to the storytelling and the relationship between Anna and Blake in the movie we see as a love story.
“It may not be a romantic story, but we see it as primarily a love story between two women. It may be twisted, but it is a love story.”
A Simple Favor is streaming on Netflix now until Monday May 19. Another Simple Favor is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
