'A Simple Favor' - Movie Vs Book

By now if you haven't seen the advertisements for A Simple Favor (the movie) then you've probably been hiding out at the cabin with Emily. But a little less known fact (at least until it was recently shown on movie posters) is that the movie is based on the book of the same title by Darcy Bell.

However, as we all know, books and movies can have drastically different plots, even when based on the same material. So what differentiates A Simple Favor vs. A Simple Favor?

Casting

First of all, a book doesn't have a cast that can boost its appeal. When Bell's book first hit shelves, it was a little unknown that was sheltered somewhere in the thriller, fiction section of your local bookstore.

But out come movie posters and ads with well-loved actors Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, and Henry Golding, and suddenly everyone has heard of A Simple Favor, the movie.

Point of View

In A Simple Favor, readers get to hear from Stephanie, Emily, and Sean during different chapters, as well as reading some of Stephanie's blog posts. This gives the book a more rounded appeal, as readers can learn what is going through each character's head as the story unfolds.

However, the movie is simply focused on Stephanie's (Annie Kendrick) point of view, leading to her as the main character, when in reality all three characters are meant to be playing a leading role.

Stephanie

As the main character in the movie, Stephanie herself is also changed. In A Simple Favor, Stephanie is a lot creepier and more methodically implants herself into Sean's life post-Emily. However, the movie version has her being played off as more of a doe-eyed innocent.

Also, Stephanie's name is changed from the book to the movie. Book Stephanie's last name is Ward, while the movie gives her the last name Smothers.

Then, giving her more of a creepy edge, book Stephanie flat out admits to incest on a tape that Emily has of her. Movie Stephanie hints at thinking it may be possible and being worried about it, but book Stephanie just straight out admits to it.

Emily

Book Emily is almost a nicer (or at least calmer) version than Lively's turn in the movie. Lively's character swears, drinks, and continually curses out Kendrick's Stephanie, while the book has Emily pretending to be sweeter in order to dupe Stephanie into becoming the perfect accomplice to her crimes, such as murdering her sister (oh and the insurance agent she kills, which was also just totally left out of the movie).

Book Emily also gets Stephanie's help in the end by telling her that Sean was abusing her, which was a storyline cut from the movie. In the book, Emily gets away with her crimes by framing Sean (and later Stephanie), while in the movie Sean and Stephanie join forces to entrap Emily. It must have seemed more theatrical to have a fake shooting and the catching of the bad guy.

Sean

While mostly just around to cause a rift between Emily and Stephanie so that the plot doesn't just end with Emily's disappearance, Sean also gets a bit of a makeover between the book and the movie.

In the book, Sean is an investment banker. But in the movie, he becomes an English professor (to add in the TA threesome plot, which also wasn't a part of the book). However, instead of being in England meeting with investors when Emily first goes missing (like in the book), he is now in England visiting his mother who has a broken hip. Seems like a slightly unneeded changed, but with Stephanie and Emily getting makeovers, maybe Sean felt left out.

Also, in the book, Sean really is in on the whole insurance scheme, while in the movie he claims innocence.

Dennis Nylon

Again giving their characters a makeover, the movie has Dennis as a roadblock in Stephanie's search for Emily. So much so that Stephanie ends up having to break into Emily's office to find clues on her disappearance.

However, in the book, Dennis is much more helpful and even holds a press conference when Emily goes missing. Upon her return, he helps her continue her scheme and gets her psychic help as well as legal counsel.

Background Characters

Even background characters got makeovers in this movie. Take Emily's mom's caretaker. From a creepy, old man with a shotgun in the movie to a simple, kind, smart woman in the book. She figures out Emily's crimes long before Stephanie in the book but doesn't do anything about it because she's too busy taking care of Emily's mom, while the male caretaker in the movie simply chases Stephanie down to order some clothes from her because she was pretending to be a saleswoman. In the book, she just calls and asks to visit her friend's mother, as normal people would do.

What'll you have?

All the ads for A Simple Favor movie have Kendrick and Lively sipping on martinis, which they do throughout their friendship sitting in Emily's living room.

However, in the book, the two bond over white wine. Much more refined and fancy for the suburban moms, but not chaotic enough for movie Emily's wild past.

Who'll take care of Nicky?

In the movie, Emily and Stephanie become friends simply because their sons are friends, which is why Emily chooses Stephanie to ask her "simple favor." But Bell's version has Emily choosing Stephanie as her temporary replacement long before the two's first mommy date. Stephanie's super-mom tendencies and gullibility draw Emily towards her as a caretaker for Nicky while Emily is hiding out.

Money, Money

In the book, Emily and Sean hatch a plan to get the $2 million payout life insurance from Sean's investment company by having Emily go missing.

In the movie, the payout is upped to $4 million. Because all my professors can afford $4 million insurance policies, can't yours?

Kiss, Kiss

That kiss between Kendrick and Lively in the movie? Never happened! Throughout the book, the two women are nothing but friendly, and if it were up to Emily, sometimes not even that.

Paintings on the Wall

For those of you who have seen the movie, you know about the nude painting on Emily's wall and how it leads Stephanie to visit some of Emily's old flames to track her down.

However, even more symbolic in the book, Emily instead has a picture of a set of twins on her wall. If you know the ending, it should ring a bell! Maybe they didn't want to give away such a vital piece of information so quickly, or maybe they just wanted an excuse to give Emily more of a crazy background. Either way, the twin picture makes way more sense than the nudes.

Meat

Also changed is Stephanie's connection to meat, which is basically never even mentioned in the movie. But in the book, Stephanie hasn't eaten meat in years because her husband and brother's accident happened when they were on their way to buy meat for a family cookout.

When she moves in with Sean, she begins eating meat again until one night when Nicky yells at her, "That's my mom. You killed her and cooked her" (A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell), which is a little creepier than Nicky's outbursts in the movie.

I don't know about you, but I would've loved to see Anna Kendrick's reaction to that line!

Sisterhood

Emily's connection to her sister in the book isn't as confusing as the movie makes it out to be. She and her sister, Evelyn, simply had different paths in life, where Emily got clean and Evelyn didn't. But they have matching barbed wire tattoos to always remember each other by until Emily kills her at the lake cabin.

In the movie, it gets a little more confusing. Emily is one of three daughters (Hope, Faith, and Charity). There's some business with burning down their childhood home and killing their father, and going to Bible camp and having charity/flame tattoos that match. It's just a bunch of jumble to make Emily's past more exciting and try to explain her insanity.

In all honesty, she's just an insane character. That's all there is to it.

Also, Evelyn doesn't call Emily to blackmail her, but simply to tell her she's planning on killing herself. Rushing to her side, Emily uses this to her advantage and pushes her sister over the edge with drugs and alcohol until she drowns herself in the lake. Personally, book Emily's ability to psychologically torture her sister is so much creepier than movie Emily murdering her sister.

Who gets caught?

Well, it's time for the ultimate difference! The entire ending!

In the book, Emily gets away with everything. She convinces the cops that it was all Sean and Stephanie, and while the cops are off investigating, she and Nicky slip off into the night.

However, in the movie, Emily gets her comeuppance. Sean and Stephanie combine forces to get her to admit her guilt and she's arrested and charged with a 20-year sentence. Good triumphs over evil!

If you think the movie sounds more interesting, you can pre-order it here. It will be released December 18, 2018 on most platforms.

Here's the trailer for the movie if you still aren't convinced. After this, you'll be dying to watch it... with a few martinis.

If you want to read the book (or maybe you want to do both), you can order it here. It's available on most platforms, including the movie tie-in version or the original version.