Can a simple favor really be that simple? After seeing the movie “A Simple Favor,” starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick, a favor can easily turn into a nightmare.

Directed by Paul Fieg “A Simple Favor” is incomparable to anything I’d ever seen before. The film holds a trifecta of suspense, drama and humor. As far as the genre, the film falls under a dark-comedy, thriller, with a splash high fashion and intrigue. It’s a lot, I know.

Before pre-screening the film, I scoured the internet for reviews. The headline of a review by The New Yorker called the film a “… Mystery Comedy Made of Plastic.” While, a synopsis of the movie by NBC includes that “… the film takes on the “Gone Girl”-style of a female-driven thriller with surprisingly fun results.” This film is drastically different from the roles I’ve seen Kendrick and Lively portray in past projects.

“A Simple Favor” however, proves these actresses have come quite far from the start of their careers to now, with their most current roles as Stephanie Smothers, played by Kendrick and Emily Nelson, played by Lively. Stephanie is a bubbly-beyond-belief mother of one, who over-involves herself in her son’s school, and runs an online vlog, sharing everything from tricks to cure rashes, to making gazpacho. However, Emily, resides on the other end of that spectrum.

Emily is a too-cool-for-school mom, who commutes from their small town to New York City, working as a public relations executive at a chic fashion firm. The only thing connecting these polar opposites are their sons. One day after school, both boys convince their mothers to let them have a playdate. Stephanie and Emily’s friendship blossoms from there over daily martinis, listening to sophisticated French music and confessing secrets.

One day, Emily calls Stephanie and asks for a simple favor. Emily’s husband, Sean, who is played by Henry Golding, the lead actor in the recent film “Crazy Rich Asians,” can’t make it to watch their son after school. Stephanie, of course, assures Emily that taking her son home and watching him for the night is no problem at all, that is until Emily never comes back to pick him up.

Besides herself regarding her best friend’s disappearance, Stephanie turns to her online mommy-vlog fans and Sean for help. Will they find Emily, or will her vanishing act remain unsolved? A favor, a friendship and a mystery. Paul Fieg’s, “A Simple Favor” will make you wonder, if sometimes the people we think we know the best, are actually the ones we really know nothing about.

Editor’s Note: The reporter would like to thank the Owens Group for working with the Arts and Life section to make this review possible.