By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
When two grade-school boys beg for a playdate, what’s a conscientious Connecticut mom to do?
In “A Simple Favor,” that’s why uptight Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) starts hanging out with glamorous Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), sipping martinis in the afternoon and exchanging intimate secrets while their respective sons — Miles (Joshua Satine) and Nicky (Ian Ho) romp around.
Certainly, on the surface, they’re unlikely best friends. A widowed, stay-at-home single mom, Stephanie does a perky, Martha Stewart’ish video blog, giving household hints and recipes, while career-driven Emily works in Manhattan, doing PR for a high-powered fashion designer (Rupert Friend), while her British novelist husband Sean (Henry Golding) copes with writer’s block.
Sophisticated Emily is obviously amused by Stephanie’s awkwardly puritan demeanor, while prim, self-deprecating Stephanie is dazzled by Emily’s caustic, irreverent quips and fabulously chic lifestyle.
But when Emily suddenly goes missing after asking Stephanie the “simple favor” of picking up Nicky and watching him for a few hours, a sinister mystery kicks in, along with a possible murder.
When Stephanie drops the bumbling goofiness and goes into detective mode, she forms a relationship with Sean, who describes inscrutable Emily as “a beautiful ghost, never entirely there.”
Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids,” “Spy,” “The Heat” and that “Ghostbusters” reboot) loves directing women, and that’s obvious in Jessica Sharzer’s overly convoluted, Hitchcockian adaptation of Darcey Bell’s 2017 novel of the same title.
But he’s delivering a mixed message, trying to combine disparate elements into a comedic thriller. Both Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively deliver strong performances, although Henry Golding’s diffidence disappoints, particularly after his suave role in “Crazy Rich Asians.”
The strong supporting cast includes Andrew Rannells as a snarky dad and Bashir Salahuddin as a nosy detective with Jean Smart and Linda Cardellini as remnants of Emily’s femme fatale past.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “A Simple Favor” scores a slyly seductive, suspenseful 7. It’s surprisingly stylish, suburban neo-noir.
In “Peppermint,” when a struggling Southern California mother, Riley North (Jennifer Garner), sees her husband (Jeff Hephner) and 10 year-old daughter (Cailey Fleming) slaughtered in a drive-by killing at a local Christmas Carnival, she conscientiously identifies the Mexican cartel gunmen in a police lineup.
But corruption corrodes the criminal justice system and the obviously guilty suspects are released.
That’s when Riley North steals thousands of dollars from the bank where she works and drops off the grid, becoming an urban vigilante. She’s determined to wreak vengeance against drug lord Diego Garcia (Juan Pablo Raba), the dishonest district attorney, crooked cop and complicit judge.
At first, detectives Stan Carmichael (John Gallagher Jr.) and Moses Beltran (John Ortiz) are reluctant to blame Riley for a subsequent series of murders. But then FBI agent Lisa Inman (Annie Illonzeh) finds indisputable evidence of Riley’s continuing vendetta against the injustice that her family suffered.
Sketchily scripted by Chad St. John (“London Has Fallen”) and superficially directed by Pierre Morel (“Taken”), the predictable plot becomes increasingly unbelievable, even ludicrous, and reminiscent of every “Death Wish”/”John Wick” genre thriller you’ve ever seen.
Although hard-bodied Jennifer Garner duly earned her action stunt-stripes on TV’s spy actioner “Alias,” followed by “Daredevil” and “Elektra,” the script skims over her five-year transition from bereaved housewife to ruthless fighter/expert shooter. As a result, there’s zero character development.
During the Hollywood film industry’s current move toward diversity, it’s insensitive and offensive to cast Latinos as almost every bad guy. And the drug dealers’ front is a store that makes piñatas. (In 2018, Hispanics represented 16% of the adult U.S. population but accounted for 23% of prison inmates.)
FYI: The title comes from the peppermint ice cream cone that Riley’s young daughter was consuming on her birthday — as she was gunned down.
On the Granger Gauge, “Peppermint” is a forgettable 4, a mediocrity flavored with revenge clichés.
As this sci-fi franchise continues, Shane Black, who was an actor in John McTiernan’s 1987 “Predator,” has become director and co-writer with Fred Dekker of “The Predator.”
Their story begins as a former Army Ranger sniper-turned-mercenary, Capt. Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook), spots a UFO crashing into the Mexican jungle. Aboard the alien space ship, McKenna finds a Predator helmet and gauntlet — but not before the creature has annihilated the rest of his troop.
Realizing this technology may be valuable, he mails it home, just in case the government tries to cover up the incident entirely — which, of course, they do, discrediting McKenna’s report. He also swallows something which, inevitably, emerges later.
Meanwhile, evolutionary biologist, Dr. Casey Brackett (Olivia Munn), is summoned to examine and analyze the captured Predator.
And when McKenna’s young, autistic son Rory (Jacob Tremblay) gets his hands on the postal package, he dons the helmet to go out trick-or-treating on Halloween, utilizing its powers in an unfortunate encounter with neighborhood bullies.
Predictably, the Predator escapes, along with Dr. Brackett, landing on a bus that’s transporting McKenna and a group of quirky, PTSD-stricken veterans (Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane). Plus, another, even deadlier Super Predator is dispatched to save his predecessor.
This monster movie attracted some unwanted attention before its release when it was revealed that Shane Black had hired a friend, Steven Wilder Striegel, who was a registered sex offender to appear in a short scene with Olivia Munn which was deleted once Striegel’s criminal background was made public.
Ms. Munn was the whistleblower, alerting 20th Century-Fox that Striegel was convicted in 2010 for attempting to entice a 14 year-old girl into a sexual relationship via email. Subsequently, Shane Black was upset that the film’s release was “overshadowed in some ways by a stupid decision that I made.”
On the Granger Gauge, “The Predator” is an R-rated, profanity-filled, tedious 2. Where’s Arnold Schwarzenegger when you really need him?
(Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
