This article contains mention of murder, suicide, and incest, as well as major spoilers for A Simple Favor (2018).
Summary
The 2018 comedy crime thrillerA Simple Favormakes a lot of changes to the original story from the 2017 book.Directed by Paul Feig,A Simple Favorstars Anna Kendrick as Stephanie Smothers, a widowed single mother whose best friend, Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), goes missing after asking Stephanie to pick her son up from school. When Stephanie starts to suspect that Emily may still be alive, she goes digging into Emily’s past and uncovers some shocking secrets her mysterious friend has been keeping. Thecast ofA Simple Favoralso stars Henry Golding as Emily’s husband, Sean Townsend.
The true crime structure of Stephanie’s vlog may give some viewers the impression thatA Simple Favoris based on a true story, but it’s actually based on author Darcey Bell’s debut fiction novel of the same name.A Simple Favormade some minor changes to the book, such as changing Stephanie’s last name from Ward to Smothers and increasing the life insurance payout from $2 million to $4 million. However,the film adaptation also altered and added a lot of details that served to flesh out Emily’s backstory and changed theending ofA Simple Favor, among other things.
A Simple Favor 2: Release Date, Cast, Story, Trailer & Everything We Know About Another Simple Favor
Director Paul Feig’s blend of mystery and comedy A Simple Favor was a sleeper hit in 2018, and now a sequel has officially been confirmed.
10The Movie Has No Narrator & The Story Is Mostly Told From Stephanie’s Perspective
The Book Switches From Stephanie’s To Emily’s To Sean’s POV
In Bell’sA Simple Favorbook, the story is told from three different perspectives: Stephanie’s, Emily’s, and Sean’s. Part 1 is told from Stephanie’s point of view through her blog posts. Part 2 then shifts to Emily’s perspective, which provides a lot of insight into her motives and fills in a ton of gaps in the narrative. Part 3 also offers some of Sean’s perspective. With all of these different accounts of the same events, the narration in the book is often unreliable.
There is no narrator in the film adaptation ofA Simple Favor,and aside from Emily’s descriptions of her own flashbacks and a few solo scenes between her and Sean in the present, the story is predominantlyseen through Stephanie’s eyes. The movie does contain some unreliable narration by having the character’s accounts contradict the same events depicted in flashbacks, but unlike the reader of the book, the viewer is always shown or told the whole truth.
9The Movie Changed Stephanie’sMommy Blog To A Vlog
The Pivot To A Video Format Is Essential To One Of A Simple Favor’s Many Plot Twists
8Stephanie Doesn’t Confess That Her Son’s Real Father Is Her Half-Brother In The Movie
The question ofwho Stephanie’s son Miles' father is inA Simple Favoris left unanswered in the film adaptation.After previously revealing that her husband Davis and half-brother Chris died in a car crash, Stephanie explains to Emily that she met Chris at her father’s funeralin high school and confesses that they kissed. Emily suspects they went further and actually slept together, which Stephanie never verbally confirms to Emily, but her memories confirm to the viewer.
Davis confronts Stephanie about her visibly inappropriate relationship with her half-brother. He then asks her if Miles is even his son, insinuating that Chris fathered him instead.
Later, there’s a flashback to the afternoon before Chris and Davis died, in which Davis confronts Stephanie about her visibly inappropriate relationship with her half-brother. He then asks her if Miles is even his son, insinuating that Chris fathered him instead. Emily later asks Stephanie the same thing but she deflects from the question. However,in the book, Emily records Stephanie confessing that Chris is Miles' biological fatherand later uses the footage to blackmail her.
7The Painting Is Different & Plays A Much Bigger Role In The Movie
There Is A Painting Of Twins In The Book Instead
In the book, Stephanie notices a painting of twins at Emily’s house, which Emily claims was painted by a famous artist. This painting was merely symbolic as it foreshadowed the eventual reveal that Emily had a secret twin sister.The film adaptation ofA Simple Favorchanged the painting to a nude portrait of Emilythat she claims was painted by an “almost famous” artist from the East Village who became obsessed with her. Emily stole the painting in hopes that it would one day be valuable enough to sell, but the painter never made it big.
It’s through Diana that Stephanie finds out that Emily used to go to Squaw Lake Bible Camp (which does not exist in the book) in Michigan, which serves as a stepping stone to discovering that she has a twin sister.
After “Emily’s” body is found,Stephanie tracks down the artist, a woman named Diana Hyland(Linda Cardellini), and asks her about Emily, who went by her middle name Claudia back then. It’s through Diana that Stephanie finds out that Emily used to go to Squaw Lake Bible Camp (which does not exist in the book) in Michigan, which serves as a stepping stone to discovering that she has a twin sister. None of this happens in the book.
6Emily & Her Twin Sister’sBirth Names & Backstory Are Different In The Movie
The Twins Never Burn Down Their Childhood Home Nor Kill Their Father In The Book
When Stephanie visits the bible campin the film adaptation ofASimple Favor,she discovers thatEmily not only has a twin sister named Faith, but that her real name is actually Hope McLanden, not Emily Nelson.After a visit with Emily’s mother Margaret (Jean Smart), Stephanie finds out that the twins burned down their house as teenagers, which killed their father. Flashbacks later confirm that this was an intentional act of arson to escape their father’s abuse.
Emily does have a secret twin sister in Bell’s novel, but the two of them never set their childhood home on fire to kill their father.
After she and her sister split up to avoid police detection, Hope McLanden moved to New York and eventually changed her name to Emily Nelson to make it harder for the authorities to find her.This is also why Emily does not like having her photo taken or posted on social media in the movie.
However, virtually none of this happens in the book. Emily does have a secret twin sister in Bell’s novel, but the two of them never set their childhood home on fire to kill their father.In the book, the twins' birth names are just Emily and Evelyn Nelson, not Hope and Faith McLanden. Since she was never running from the law, Emily never had to change her name.
A Simple Favor Review: Anna Kendrick & Blake Lively Shine in Paul Feig’s Thriller
A Simple Favor is a delightfully twisty psychological thriller with compelling performances, and much of Paul Feig’s humor, but little substance.
5Emily & Her Twin Have A Third Sister Who Was Stillborn In The Movie
Emily & Her Twin’s Matching Tattoos Were Changed In The Movie To Honor Their Sister
In the film adaptation ofA Simple Favor,Stephanie meets up with Emily at “her” grave to confront her about her secrettwin sister. Emily corrects her and reveals thatshe is actually a triplet and that she and Faith had a third sister named Charity who was stillborn.Before going their separate ways after the fire, Hope and Faith got matching tattoos on their left wrists. They each got a ring of fire and a charity symbol in honor of their stillborn sister.
While Emily and her sister do have matching tattoos in both versions of A Simple Favor,their ink was changedto incorporate their expandedbackstory in the movie, including Charity’s existence.
In the book, there is no mention of Emily and her twin having a third sister who was stillborn.The reveal that Emily was actually a triplet was added to the movie. While Emily and her sister do have matching tattoos in both versions ofA Simple Favor,their ink was changedto incorporate their expandedbackstory in the movie, including Charity’s existence. In the book, Emily and Evelynget crown of thorn tattoos after a fight about Evelyn’s drug use.
4A Simple Favor Changes The Circumstances Of Emily’s Twin Sister’s Death (& Emily’s Role InIt)
Emily’s Twin Sister Doesn’t Blackmail Her In The Book
After splitting up as teenagers in the film adaptation ofA Simple Favor, Emily doesn’t hear from Faith for 14 years until she suddenly contacts her on Facebook, asking to see her.They meet up at their old bible camp whereFaith does heroin before threatening to tell the police that they deliberately started the house fire that killed their father.Faith blackmails Emily into agreeing to give her $1 million in exchange for her silence.
Emily initially claims that her sister took her own life by drowning herself in the lake, butthe flashbacks show Emily holding Faith’s head under the water until she stops breathingto keep her from turning them in. It’s only after her sister is dead that Emily gets the idea tofake her death and collect her life insurance money by making Faith’s dead body appear to be hers.
When Evelyn changes her mind about taking her own life, Emily gets her drunk which indirectly leads to her death, but she doesn’t kill her sister herself.
Emily’s sister is also a heroin addict in the book, butunlike Faith in the movie, Evelyn is actually suicidal.She asks Emily to meet her at their family cabin instead, where she plans to take her own life. Emily was already planning to fake her death at this point, and realizes she can use Evelyn’s real death to her advantage. However, when Evelyn changes her mind about taking her own life, Emily gets her drunk which indirectly leads to her death, but she doesn’t kill her sister herself.
3Sean Isn’t In On Any Part Of Emily’s Plan In The Movie
Sean Helped Emily Plan The Initial Insurance Fraud In The Book
Although Emily tries to convince Stephanie otherwise,Sean is completely clueless about Emily’s entire scheme in the film adaptation ofA Simple Favor. He genuinely believes that his wife went missing and was found dead and has no idea about the insurance fraud. It’s not until Stephanie starts digging into Emily’s past, which prompts Emily to show up again and explain her whole scheme to him, that Sean finds out about everything.
Once Stephanie has ruined her plan by exposing the existence of her twin, Emily decides to pin everything on Sean. She seemingly convinces Stephanie that it was all Sean’s idea and that he never loved Stephanie.It then appears as though Emily and Stephanie have teamed up to frame Sean, but it turns out that Stephanie was just playing along. In reality, she and Sean were working with the police to set Emily up by staging a fake shooting to get Emily to confess to killing her father and sister and clear Sean’s name.
Unlike in the movie, though, Emily successfully convinces Stephanie that Sean is abusive and forced her into the insurance scam in the book.
In the book, Sean isn’t totallyin the dark about Emily’s whole scheme.The couple concoct the plan to fake her death togetherso they can collect her life insurance money. However, just like in the movie, he doesn’t know about her long-lost twin sister,sowhen what appears to be her dead body is found, he believes it’s Emily. Unlike in the movie, though, Emily successfully convinces Stephanie that Sean is abusive and forced her into the insurance scam in the book. They gang up on Sean and threaten to expose him together.
2Emily Doesn’t Murder An Insurance Agent In The Movie
A Simple Favor Omitted A Whole Murder From The Book
In the book, the insurance agent investigating Emily’s claim shows up to tell Sean he suspects Emily’s body may actually be her twin sister’s, much to Sean’s surprise. Emily and Stephanie later meet with this agent who has caught on to Emily’s fraudulent scheme, and Emily kills him with a hypodermic needle. Emily puts the agent’s body in his car and places some of Sean’s hair inside to frame him for the murder. She makes Stephanie help her dispose of the body by pushing the car off the cliff.
Although there is an insurance agent who finds out about Emily’s twin sister and thus derails her plan in the movie, she is a woman and Stephanie contacts her to inform her about Faith.Emily doesn’t kill the insurance agent in the movie, though, and thus, doesn’t try to frame Sean for this murder.
1The Movie Ties Up The Book’s Open Ending
Emily Frames Sean And Stephanie For Murder & Escapes With Her Son In The Book
The book ends with the police finding Emily’s ring inside the dead insurance agent’s car. Emily manipulates the cops into believing that the ring belongs to Stephanie and that the evidence proves that Stephanie and Sean must be responsible for the murder. The book doesn’t reveal if they ever go to prison for the murder of the insurance agent, butEmily manages to escape the country with her son Nicky using fake passports.
Emily is shown playing basketball in prison, where she has been sentenced to 20 years.
In the movie, Emily shoots Sean and confesses to murdering her father and sister on Stephanie’s livestream. After she gets hit by a car (which doesn’t happen in the book),the police show up and arrest Emily.A Simple Favorends with title cards revealing that Stephanie’s vlog is being turned into a daily morning show and that Sean finally wrote another book and is living with Nicky. Emily is shown playing basketball in prison, where she has been sentenced to 20 years.
A Simple Favor
Based on the novel by Darcey Bell, A Simple Favor stars Anna Kendrick as Stephanie, a widowed mother and vlogger who becomes friends with the wealthy mother of one of her son’s classmates, a woman named Emily. When Emily suddenly and inexplicably disappears, Stephaine begins to search for her and in doing so uncovers a series of dark secrets about Emily’s past. Blake Lively and Henry Golding also star.
