A Simple Favor is Simply Fine

Ocean’s 8 took us on a heist ride with a female crew, and now A Simple Favor takes us through a femme fatale, film noir thriller (with just a splash of comedy) with two strong female characters. The best part about both of these movies? Despite the fact that they are female lead, it’s not the main point. Both take the opportunity to have fun with their genre, rather than make a statement or prove a point, and this makes them enjoyable ways to spend the day. Does that mean that A Simple Favor is a great example of filmmaking (or film noir as a genre)? No, but that’s okay. It’s enough that we can sit back, kind of enjoy ourselves, and roll our eyes when things get a bit cliché because the story isn’t anything fantastic.

Crazy Rich Asians: Rebirth of the Rom-Com?

I’m not a huge fan of romantic comedies to begin with, but when my mother and I left the theater, we were both struggling to come up with the last rom-com we enjoyed (or even saw) in the theaters. Mamma Mia? Well, kind of, but not exactly. It was probably The Big Sick, a little more than a year ago in 2017, but that didn’t spring to mind immediately. What did was the fact that there seemed to be no big rom-com that we could really pick out, one that stuck in the mind as either a classic (i.e. Pretty Woman, Maid in Manhattan, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) or the newer movies we found ourselves re-watching in our living room (i.e. The Proposal). Not only does Crazy Rich Asians have the potential to become the latter in my home, it has the potential to join the ranks of the former, especially for the community for whom it is intended. Though it occasionally falls into the pitfalls of cheesy, as befitting of its genre, the underlying story is sweet, touching, and has the ability to reach an audience who have spent a long time seeing themselves depicted onscreen as stereotypes or sidekicks.