Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) reunite on the beautiful island of Capri, Italy, for Emily’s extravagant wedding to a rich Italian businessman. Along with the glamorous guests, expect murder and betrayal to RSVP for a wedding with more twists and turns than the road from the Marina Grande to the Capri town square.

Paul Feig has made a name for himself as a director who doesn’t just flirt with genre, he seduces it, handcuffs it, and drags it into completely uncharted territory. With Another Simple Favor, Feig dials up the drama, the decadence, and the devilry in a sun-soaked sequel that’s anything but “simple.” It’s a smouldering powder keg of deceit, glamour, and vengeance, and we’re down for the ride.

We pick up with Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick), the former mommy-blogger turned true-crime podcaster who’s been riding the coattails of her explosive past with Emily Nelson (Blake Lively). But fame has fizzled, her book flopped, and Stephanie is left with nothing but her overworked imagination and a dwindling audience. That is until Emily, fresh out of prison, looking like the face of a million-dollar Chanel ad, and not even slightly repentant, invites her estranged bestie to be the maid of honor at her upcoming wedding. The location? The picturesque and suspiciously perfect Isle of Capri. The groom? The dangerously dashing Dante Versano (Michele Morrone), a man with smouldering eyes and secrets darker than Italian espresso. And a choatic playground of trouble awiats.

From the moment Stephanie touches down, the vibe is unmistakable: this isn’t just a wedding — this is a full-blown psychological warzone in heels. Feig wastes no time plunging audiences back into the deliciously twisted dynamic between his two leads. The suspense comes layered with biting satire, haute couture, and the kind of razor-sharp wit that slices through scenes like a switchblade through silk. There’s tension, there’s betrayal, and yes — there’s murder.

Anna Kendrick’s Stephanie Smothers has evolved, and not necessarily for the better. Burnt-out, socially isolated, and clinging to her former glory, she’s no longer the sunny suburban sleuth of 2018. Kendrick plays her with a brittle edge and nervous energy, peeling back layers of vulnerability as Stephanie once again gets pulled into Emily’s chaotic orbit. It’s a performance that’s equal parts hilarious and dramatic, and Feig knows exactly when to play her off-kilter humour for maximum tension.

Then there’s Blake Lively. As Emily Nelson, she once again walks the tightrope between femme fatale and full-blown sociopath. She’s back, and she’s badder than ever. Lively leans fully into the role, portraying Emily with icy elegance, crackling wit, and the kind of couture power that would make Hitchcock swoon. She’s a walking enigma, a puzzle in Prada, and you never quite know if she’s about to kiss you, or kill you. There’s a deliciously twisted pleasure in watching her toy with Kendrick’s Stephanie like a cat with a cornered mouse, and Lively brings back her Hitchcockian allure with a performance that’s equal parts Grace Kelly and femme fatale gone rogue. It’s a masterclass in charismatic villainy, and Lively clearly relishes every devilish moment.

Henry Golding reprises his role as Emily’s ex-husband Sean, and he’s undergone his own transformation. Disheveled and bitter, Sean is a shell of the man we met in the first film. Golding ditches the charm for a more abrasive, alcoholic edge that adds another volatile layer to the already combustible ensemble. He’s a wild card, constantly threatening to unravel the whole thing.Then there’s Michele Morrone as Dante Versano; the rich, ridiculously handsome Italian groom whose grand gestures hide some deeply sinister motives. Morrone is magnetic on screen, all brooding stares and seductive charm, but there’s a storm behind those eyes. Is he a devoted fiancé or a deadly player in Emily’s twisted game? Morrone walks the line beautifully, keeping both Stephanie and the audience guessing until the bitter end.

Feig doesn’t stop at his main players. The supporting cast is bursting with delicious performances, each one a spicy olive in this cinematic cocktail. Allison Janney blazes into the frame as Emily’s wickedly sharp Aunt Linda McLanden, who is armed with a biting tongue and secrets of her own. Elizabeth Perkins is terrifyingly funny as Margaret McLanden, Emily’s unstable, foul-mouthed mother who crashes the wedding with uninvited fury. And then there’s Elena Sofia Ricci as Portia Versano, Dante’s mother, whose hatred of Emily is so potent it might as well be weaponized. She’s a full-blown aristocratic assassin in pearls, and her scenes with Kendrick are electric.

Feig transforms the entire production into a jet-set thriller dripping in Mediterranean opulence. The Isle of Capri setting is almost too beautiful to be true, thanks to its lavish villas, crashing waves, and glowing sunsets, but it’s that very postcard-perfect look that gives the film its unnerving edge. Something this perfect has to be hiding something, and does it ever. Costume designer Renée Ehrlich Kalfus delivers some of the most jaw-dropping fashion seen on screen this year, with Lively once again donning looks that scream “venomous elegance.” Every outfit tells a story – every accessory could be a murder weapon. While Theodore Shapiro’s slick, noir-tinged score pulses beneath the surface, echoing the Hitchcockian vibes that permeate every scene.

Another Simple Favor is the kind of sequel that doesn’t just live up to its predecessor — it stabs it in the back, steals its dress, and runs off to the Amalfi Coast. It’s darker, wilder, sexier, and far more unhinged. Feig has created a twisted, stylish, and deliciously unpredictable puzzle-box of a movie that keeps you on your toes until the very last gasp. Whether you’re here for the fashion, the thrills, the twisted friendships, or just a really good murder-mystery cocktail, this film has everything you want and more.

Image: Prime Video

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A British drug (McConaughey) lord tries to sell off his highly profitable marijuana empire to a dynasty of Oklahoma billionaires.

It’s been some time since virtuoso filmmaker Guy Ritchie has been in proper gangster territory, but now the good filmmaker has returned to the genre that he has helped shaped through the decades and he injects new blood, heavy drama and a whole heap of new villains back into The Gentlemen. And the result is a very fun watch. Telling the intersecting story of marijuana kingpin Mickey Pearson (McConaughey), an American expat who is the Julius Caesar of the marijuana business and has conquered all of Britain, with both sensational cunning and a brutal hand when needed. This very proper gangster is now trying to find a way to ride off into the sunset and it’s from here that things get very interesting.

This posh tale is in keeping with all of Ritchie’s favourite toys as a filmmaker and he gets to have a lot of fun as he once again traverses the entirety of the English establishment, from its polished aristocracy to the squalor of the slums, as he spins this original tale of gangsters, money and a whole heap of skunk. The Gentlemen is a film that screams to be seen on the big screen, in bold, crisp 35mm film, and with its colourful cast of characters and twisting narrative, you won’t see whats coming next. Ritchie’s style here is both his own, but there’s also a Hitchcockian touch here and it almost feels like this film is somewhat like Charade…but with more gangsters, pocket squares and c-bombs. You’re engaged from start to finish and Ritchie has you hook, line and sinker with a narrative that you won’t want to look away from until the very end.

Standing front and centre in The Gentlemen is Matthew McConaughey as the flat cap wearing, herringbone suited gang lord Michael ‘Mickey’ Pearson. An American expat and former Rhodes Scholar who turned his talents from academics to drug dealing and in the process formed a fearsome reputation for getting things done, along with accumulating great wealth, who now finds himself at a crossroads. But when things take a turn, and chaos erupts in this criminal jungle the lion lashes out and McConaughey goes to work. The pairing of Ritchie and McConaughey is an absolute dream come true and his resulting performance shows off his abilities. McConaughey makes for one hell of an impressive gangster and just like Al Pacino established the standard for gangster cool in the 1980s, so too does McConaughey refines it for a brand new decade in The Gentlemen.

Assisting McConaughey’s Pearson is Charlie Hunnam as Raymond, Pearson’s bespectacled number two man and all-around caretaker and consigliere. While his first appearance marks him out as a somewhat over-the-top accountant and logistics man, it soon becomes apparent that Raymond has far more violent talents that Pearson puts to good use and when you need someone to operate the bonesaw, Raymond’s the man for the job. Hunnam revels in the role, and he’s a great fit for this completely orderly individual who starts to crack at having to deal with the multiple of problems that are laid at his feet. You completely buy into his performance and he gets to show his stuff off, which results in some fearsomely violent actions, along with laugh out loud hysterics caused by some hilarious impromptu black comedy moments.

Coming up against McConaughey’s Pearson is Henry Golding who throws away his nice guy charm and instead adopts the hungry jackal feralness of upstart gangster Dry Eye who wants in on Pearson’s business and ain’t about to take no for an answer. Cast as the chief bad guy, Golding does a complete 360 here and it’s fun to watch him revel in his darker side. Dry Eye is a particularly nasty piece of work, and Golding gets to cut loose here as this thoroughly uninhibited ‘millennial firecracker’ whose got his own gangster flash style going on, and which is very reminiscent of the classic Steve McQueen look, as he looks to make his bones. Dry Eye is a worthy adversary for McConaughey in this gangster game of cat and mouse and he delivers the goods.

They say behind every great man there’s an even greater woman and for McConaughey’s Mickey Pearson that couldn’t be truer. Michelle Dockery takes on the role of his tough-as-nails and extremely classy wife Rosalind, and this Cockney Cleopatra, alongside her American Caesar, has conquered the British Isles totally and completely with both style and smarts. Dockery drops her gentrified stance that we’ve come to expect from her thanks to her work in Downton Abbey and instead adopts the all-business demeanour of Ros. She talks fast, walks fast and does not suffer fools and you invest in the shared chemistry that she and McConaughey have together as husband and wife on-screen. In a film that is filled to the brim with a whole pack of lads, Dockery is able to carve out her own space and her appearance is one of the most memorable parts of the entire film.

Popping up in The Gentlemen and completely turning heads is Colin Farrell as Coach. Like his name implies he’s a boxing/MMA coach who handles a group of trouble makers who call themselves The Toddlers, and who spend most of their time causing scraps and making fight videos that they upload to YouTube. But when his charges’ actions pull him into Pearson’s world he’s not impressed and his mean side quickly jumps out with terrifying results. Farrell’s turn in The Gentlemen is a performance that is unlike anything he’s ever done before and he’s quick on his feet and even quicker with the jab. It’s clear that he had a ball working with Ritchie and his appearance in The Gentleman is a bit of stand-out fun.

Finally, in a scene-stealing performance, Hugh Grant arrives on the scene as Fletcher, a sleazy private eye who’s always looking for an angle and who is far and away the most crooked character in all of London. This is Hugh Grant like you’ve never seen him before as he drops his usual classy persona and adopts this bottom feeder character and the result is a clear riot. Trust me when I say that you’ve never seen anything like this before in Grant’s career and Fletcher is equal parts scene-stealer and meta-character, and is the lens by whom Ritchie critiques and commentates on the current state of British society, and its changing of the guard. I can’t remember seeing a character this original since Dickin’s Fagin, and Grant’s turn as this cooky villain is sensationally fun to watch.

The Gentlemen is a terrific return to the old school for Guy Ritchie who once again proves that he’s the undoubted headmaster when it comes to the crime genre. Original, outlandish, wild and completely bonkers, this one is a crazy fun watch and you’ll walk out of it wanting to invest in a flat cap and pocket square while you brush up on your cockney rhyme.

Image: Roadshow Films

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The brand new trailer for The Gentlemen has just been released and it’s an absolute riot. Check it out below:

Here’s the full synopsis:

A British drug (McConaughey) lord tries to sell off his highly profitable marijuana empire to a dynasty of Oklahoma billionaires.

Set in contemporary London, The Gentlemen takes audiences into the world of Matthew McConaughey’s American-born expat Mickey Pearson, who has made England his home and with a combination of grit and smarts has created a vast marijuana empire. Now trying to get out of the game and enjoy a leisurely life, his business is threatened by a whole host of classic villains and things are about to get interesting from here.

The Gentlemen is classic Guy Ritchie, and there’s plenty of gnarly criminal moments, along with a good bit of zany comedy in this one, not to mention  some serious sartorial style.

In an interview with EW, Ritchie went into the motivation for making the film saying, “what I wanted to do was to bring subcultures together from both sides of the Atlantic. An American comes to England to be clever and get a job in the conventional fashion, but then takes his smarts through his connections at Oxford and realizes there’s more money to be made in the marijuana game, and capitalizes on the entrepreneurial New World spirit with the comfortable and exciting juxtaposition of British aristocracy. So what I wanted was British aristocracy, New World American drive, and all of the fun to be had with bringing those two worlds together. Marijuana’s kind of fun, but nevertheless serious and there’s money involved.”

Ritchie also said that film’s style and pacing instantly made him feel at ease at a director.

“It does feel like I’m on familiar territory here,” Ritchie said. “I loved making Aladdin, but this is obviously a very different world. We did them both in the same year. It was great to do both and sort of oscillate to the other polarity. That, I think we have done.”

With an incredible cast lead by McConaughey, which also includes Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant like you’ve never seen him before, well, this is about to get very interesting.

The Gentlemen is sure to be a fun film from beginning to end, and long-time Guy Ritchie are seriously going to dig this one when it is released on January 24, 2020.

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