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A Simple Favor wants it both ways, hoping to be a stylish, twisty, trashy thriller while simultaneously acting superior to the genre?s slinky pleasures. Those conflicting strategies do the film no favours. Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively dig into this sordid story of a timid widowed mother drawn to a glamorous neighbour, unearthing some biting insights about the ways in which women are marginalized ? or worse, diminish themselves. But the movie becomes increasingly ludicrous and cynical, its purported nasty good time eventually turning sour.

Releasing September 14 in the US and September 20 in the UK, this Lionsgate offering features fabulous outfits and a snarky attitude, bolstered by Kendrick?s and Lively?s box-office appeal. (Co-star Henry Golding, recently in Crazy Rich Asians, will be an additional attraction.) Although reviews may be muted, A Simple Favor looks to be shrewd counterprogramming in comparison to more male-driven contemporaries The Predator and White Boy Rick.

Based on Darcey Bell?s 2017 novel, the film stars Kendrick as Stephanie, a sunny, slightly dorky mother who?s in awe of Emily (Lively), a well-dressed, ultra-confident P.R. executive whose young son is best friends with her boy. Intimated by Emily?s style, beauty and cutting asides, Stephanie finds herself opening up to this woman, admitting how she?s struggling since losing her husband and her brother in a fatal car crash. And then one day, Emily goes missing, prompting Stephanie to investigate her disappearance.

A Simple Favor is directed by Paul Feig (Spy, Bridesmaids), who?s made his name helming broad female-led comedies. His latest is a tarter farce full of seductive eye-candy as shabby Stephanie is seduced by Emily?s extravagant lifestyle, amazing house, impeccable fashion sense and gorgeous author husband (Golding). The Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot songs on the soundtrack announce that A Simple Favor aspires to be a chic, witty mystery, one in which the plot?s more lurid elements ? murder, sex, shocking secrets ? are meant to be savoured.

For a while, Feig and his cast walk the line between expressing derision and affection for the sinful narrative delights that A Simple Favor promises. With hints of Single White Female and The Girl On The Train, the movie smartly casts its two leads to type, utilizing Kendrick?s nervous sweetness and Lively?s icy reserve to create a power imbalance in which Stephanie constantly feels inferior to her snotty, self-assured pal. But as Jessica Sharzer?s screenplay begins unveiling its surprises ? many of them intentionally testing the bounds of believability ? A Simple Favor struggles to maintain a consistent attitude about its guilty-pleasure plotting.

Occasionally, the movie can be a genuinely engaging examination of how women like Stephanie allow themselves to be pushed around, defaulting to a kindly, apologetic demeanour so as not to make waves. Kendrick demonstrates the pain within this grieving mother who has learned to slap on a smile for a world that?s indifferent to her problems. At the same time, the Oscar-nominated actress supplies enough hints of Stephanie?s darker side to keep us on edge.

But those moments of emotional depth get lost amidst A Simple Favor?s superficial sheen. Lively has nowhere to go after establishing what a cold, calculating woman Emily is. Lively plays her one note expertly ? it?s fun watching Emily torment her insecure friend ? but there?s little room for revelation in the performance. And Golding is left to be hunky and somewhat enigmatic, never completely reassuring us that his character isn?t behind his wife?s disappearance. But in the film? https://www.thanostv.org/movie/a-simple-favor-2018 reels, he (along with his co-stars) is forced to sell a preposterous series of revelations and betrayals that jettison any sense of reality.

The filmmakers also attempt to graft a feminist message onto their summer-beach-read thriller, but neither is handled deftly enough to really captivate. Feig doesn?t have the �lan to maximize the story?s juicy shamelessness and, as a result, A Simple Favor?s campy catfight tone feels laboured rather than relished ? it?s a movie that?s too mannered to bare its claws.

Producer: Mickey Liddell, Pete Shilaimon and Jennifer Monroe Director: Ken Marino Writer: Elissa Matsueda and Erica Oyama Stars: Nina Dobrey, Eva Longoria, Vanessa Hudgens, Adam Pally, Tone Bell, Jon Bass, Michael Cassidy, Finn Wolfhard, Ron Cephas Jones, Lauren Lapkus, Thomas Lennon, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Jessica Lowe, Jessica St. Clair, Ryan Hansen, David Wain, Tig Notaro, Phoebe Neidhardt, John Gemberling, Toks Olagundoye, Tony Cavalero and Casey Deidrick, Studio: LD Entertainment

One would like to think that ?Dog Days? is intended as a parody of really bad ensemble rom coms, of the sort that Garry Marshall made in his later years. But that doesn?t seem to be the case. It?s just an awful movie of its type, a limp comedy that shamelessly resorts to endless shots of dogs, babies and older kids staring at the camera to pluck at viewers? heartstrings.

Each of the individual plot threads can be described as falling into mediocre sitcom territory. An ambitious TV personality who?s just found that her boyfriend is a cheat is forced to team up on her local morning show with a charming ex-football player; since his dog brings out the best in her depressed one, the owners inch toward romance, too. A pretty barista takes in a stray, but then must decide between two suitors?the handsome veterinarian who treats the emaciated pup by fitting it with a cute little helmet, and the goofy but lovable fellow who runs a rescue kennel for homeless canines. An elderly man loses his late wife?s dog, and is aided by his pizza-delivery kid to find it; since he?s a retired teacher, he also becomes the boy?s tutor. An anxious couple adopts a darling little girl, but their attempts to bond with her run into a brick wall until she falls in love with a stray pug and they take it into their home. A slacker would-be musician is compelled to dog-sit his sister?s large pet while she and her husband deal with their twin newborns; will he link up with the pretty neighbor who sees him sneaking the dog into their ? Movie Review: ?DOG DAYS? is a ?bone?-a fide sensation � FreshFiction.tv allowed? apartment building?

You can see well in advance where every one of these stories is headed, and in some cases the inevitable connections among them. But when they all come together in a big finale involving a money-raising concert to benefit that doggie shelter, the result is all the more depressingly obvious.

That isn?t to say there The Austin Chronicle ?t occasional bright moments along the way. Tig Notaro, for example, does an amusingly deadpan bit as an animal therapist the stressed-out anchorwoman interviews on her show and then goes to see as a client. And there are some nicely loose, likable performances. Tone Bell, for instance, is ingratiating as that ex-football star turned TV celebrity.

But for Dog Days Review (2001) , we?re irritated by several grating ones. Adam Pally is an utter bust as that slacker guitarist and Rob Corddry tries so hard to stifle his natural air of cynicism as the adoptive dad that he comes across stiff and boring. (He?s certainly not helped by the decision to have him wear vests that look a couple of sizes too small for him. Maybe he?s just having trouble breathing.) By contrast, Dobrev comes on way too strong as the TV anchorwoman, and Jon Bass and Michael Cassidy overplay the dog-kennel owner and hunky vet, respectively. So does Phoebe Neidhardt as a wacky weather reporter (to be fair, she?s hobbled by some of the worst material the script has to offer).

Most of the large cast falls between the two extremes, giving performances that are simply bland. But almost all are eventually faced with scenes that come close to being unplayable. Was it really necessary, for example, to include a twist involving some Alice B. Toklas-style brownies on which a dog gets stoned? Viewers should also be advised that one plot turn involves a dog?s death, milked for all its worth.

The movie is directed, with a degree of laxity that borders on the criminal, by actor Ken Marino, who adds insult to injury by doing a one-scene cameo as a potential new partner for our TV anchorwoman. In doing so he provides a not-so-sterling example to his cast on how to go completely over-the-top without being remotely funny. Technically the movie passes muster but no more, with glassy cinematography by Frank Barrera and predictably bouncy music by Craig Wedren. You have you give some credit to editor Brian Scofield for managing to keep all the narrative balls in the air, though the finished product could hardly be called seamless.

Inevitably people will note that ?Dog Days? is being released in August, and so its title?and quality, or lack thereof?fit comfortably into the season. But even if it?s sweltering outside, this mangy mutt of a comedy will offer little respite, despite the air conditioning in the auditorium.

Producer: Seth Fuller and Scott Hussion Director: Scott Hussion and Seth Fuller Writer: Victor Zarkoff Stars: Neville Archambault, Chelsea Edmundson, Amber Midthunder, Hank Rogerson, John-Paul Howard, Brytnee Ratledge, Gavin bWhite, Lora Martinez-Cunningham, Brianne Moncrief, Zach Dulin and Kodi Saint Angelo Studio: Gravitas Ventures

Voyeurism of a most extreme sort was the subject of Victor Zarkoff?s ?13 Cameras,? 14 CAMERAS -budget thriller that grew increasingly implausible as it progressed but was nonetheless tightly constructed and genuinely creepy. The sequel expands things by adding not only another camera but needless subplots, and the tightness evaporates. ?14 Cameras? becomes 14 CAMERAS , pointless bore, marked by poor writing and slipshod construction, as well as flat directing and amateurish acting.

In ?13 Cameras,? the villain, creepy landlord Gerald (Neville Archambault), simply spied on his tenants until fatally intervening in their troubled lives. It was a slim story, but for the most part was crisply staged and executed. 14 CAMERAS , Gerald is more of an entrepreneur who rents out a baker?s dozen of camera-equipped homes, footage from which he streams out to paying customers on the dark web.

He still, however, has his own perverted interests. He keeps Claire (Brianne Moncrief), the pregnant housewife from the first movie, imprisoned in an underground chamber, and when one of his renters, Sarah (Chelsea Edmundson), almost catches him rambling about in her house, he tosses her in as well, though he never seems to have contact with the women except for occasional trips to bathe them tenderly. In one plot thread, Sarah attempts to escape despite Claire?s warnings not to?good advice, as it turns out.

In any event, after a pointless prologue involving a couple (Zach Dulin and Kodi Saint Angelo) who simply banter for awhile before disappearing in their car, the focus shifts to a new bunch of renters: parents Arthur (Hank Rogerson) and Lori (Lora Martinez-Cunningham), their daughter Molly (Brytnee Ratledge) and her horny younger brother Kyle (John-Paul Howard), who has the hots for Molly?s friend Danielle (Amber Midthunder), their guest. Much of the movie is given over to desultory footage of them, enlivened only when one of Gerald?s customers decides to pay the girls an unwelcome visit and Gerald intervenes to protect them.

By this time, however, Junior (Gavin White), a teen who lives with Gerald (and may be the son Claire never knew), investigates what his ?guardian? has been up to and decides to save Claire, and the family will become engaged as well. But though Gerald?s flow of footage will halt, a coda is added to suggest there might be life in the old goat yet and the hiatus in his work output could be temporary.

Though Zarkoff wrote the script for this sequel to his surprise little succ�s d?estime, he passed directing duties along to producers Seth Fuller and Scott Hussion, who exhibit little flair for structure or pacing and are unable to draw anything but the most elementary performances from the cast, although it must be admitted that Archambault remains a menacing presence. Fuller also served as cinematographer, and shows little aptitude in that capacity either. Editor Zach Lee gives the picture no perceptible rhythm, failing to inject any excitement into what is pretty flaccid footage.

For discerning genre fans ?13 Cameras? was a surprisingly effective little thriller about a twisted guy and his hapless victims. This time around, the haplessness is to be found in the filmmakers. ?14 Cameras? is a thoroughly unnecessary and disappointing sequel.