Book vs. Movie: A Simple Favor

I know what a pretentious snot I'm going to sound like here but I really don't watch TV. (Today was a notable exception when I watched a Golden Girls marathon on TV Land while I finished crocheting a baby gift). If the TV is on in our house, 95% of the time it's because Matt is watching a sport or he put on HGTV or Bar Rescue. The point is, I never know what movies are coming out and when, so one day while I was playing on Youtube and I saw an interview with Anna Kendrick on Jimmy Fallon talking about her upcoming (at the time) film A Simple Favor, I got excited. I like Anna Kendrick and it sounded pretty good; kind of like Gone Girl, to be honest. Then a week later Stephen Metcalf of Slate's Culture Gabfest podcast said that this was one of his top favorite movies of the year, so I figured the stars were aligning.

I checked out the paperback and the DVD from the library at the same time (one benefit of being behind in movies is that you can usually just get the DVD when you hear about a movie) and read the book first. I had high hopes for this book. I was hoping it would be as hard to put down as Gone Girl, and in some places it was.

Quick summary with no real spoilers: Stephanie is a mommy blogger who lives in Fairfield County, CT. She meets Emily, a working mom with a powerful job in fashion at school pick-up one day and they hit it off. Stephanie works hard at being a perfect mother while Emily doesn't care about the little stuff. She swears in front of her kid, has martinis in the afternoon while the playdate is going on upstairs, that kind of thing. Stephanie finds Emily exciting. Why Emily wants to hang out with Stephanie becomes clear before too long. It started out kind of twisted and juicy when Stephanie makes an admission about her past but there were times it wasn't as engaging as I would have liked. I found it kind of uneven. That's not to say that it was bad, but...

The movie adaptation was pretty great. I loved its soundtrack of French mood music, I loved all the wardrobe choices for the main characters, and the pacing was consistent. They also made Stephanie a mommy vlogger, which made much more sense for the movie, and it really helped to display her character.

I almost never say this, ever, but the movie was better! I know. I know! If you know me, you know I never say that. (Except for one other time; ahem, Atonement.) I'm glad I read the book but honestly a the adaptation was beautifully done.

So there we go... book: 4/5 stars. Movie: 5/5.