'Another Simple Favor' review: Blake Lively-Anna Kendrick comedy suffers from sequelitis 

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively reprise their "A Simple Favor" roles in this sequel, arriving on Prime Video just shy of seven years after they scored a critical and commercial success with the original suburban black comedy.

That movie effectively satirized the world of mommy vloggers, with a sleek noir touch to boot, but it didn't exactly leave you desperate for a sequel. And there hasn't been much of a clamoring for "Another Simple Favor" in the years since. (Although the movie was chosen to open this year's SXSW Film and TV Festival.)

Nonetheless, here we are, with Emily Nelson (Lively) inviting her frenemy Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick) to be her maid of honor as she marries the scion of a mob family (Michele Morrone) on the Italian island of Capri.

There's more to it than that, of course, as the prolific filmmaker Paul Feig ("Bridesmaids") returns to helm the sequel. Co-stars include Henry Golding ("Crazy Rich Asians"), Allison Janney, Andrew Rannells and Elizabeth Perkins.

MY SAY "Another Simple Favor" is stricken with a condition that's so common to sequels, it's easy to diagnose. Call it sequelitis, or sequel malaise, or whatever other term you might prefer. But it's that particular sensation of a movie returning for all the wrong reasons to a world best left undisturbed.

This story played itself out nicely in the first movie. It created a convincingly dark vision of a slice of Connecticut life and saw it through to where it needed to go. There's nothing left, really, and so the sequel weighs itself down with a twisty, superficial plot. It goes where it must to maintain the "mystery" of it all, but never shows even the slightest regard for being convincing.

The project is permeated with the feeling of an obligation, rather than an artistic calling, and so the talented people on both sides of the camera simply go through the motions.

The stars are given impossibly ridiculous scenarios to play and have no idea what to do with them. Kendrick strains to seem fun and relatable, which usually isn't hard for the veteran actor, while Lively finds herself stuck as a total cipher. Good luck learning anything about Emily, or her motivations, or her thoughts or feelings. 

The supporting actors are each given a single defining character trait — Janney's a conniving villain; Golding's a downtrodden alcoholic — if they're offered anything to work with at all.

Feig directs the picture without much of a feeling for Capri, one of the most beautiful places on earth, but which here might as well have been a studio backlot. He knows how to fuse a comedic sensibility with a Hitchcockian touch, but there's nothing beyond the surface. Similarly, the movie's packed with signifiers of wealth, ranging from the couture wardrobes to luxurious gathering spaces and stunning sea views. But it doesn't have anything to say about any of it. It's as empty as the characters at its center.

BOTTOM LINE What's the point?