In an interview with the industry magazine Deadline, Paul Feig recently revealed one of his “golden rules” for filmmaking: sequels are actually taboo for him because – like the audience saturated by unnecessary esteems – he almost always asks whether you really have to look. And indeed: Although speculations have been cooked again and again in recent years, the plans for a continuation of his comedy superhite “Bridal Valley” are still on hold because of these personal reservations. It is all the more surprised that the “Ghostbusters” director has instead moved a sequel to his Biestig-nasty Twist thriller “only a little favor”.
For the logical “Just a little one left“Titled and this time created directly for the streaming service Amazon Prime Video, most of the illustrious line-up around Blake Lively (“ only once ”) and Anna Kendrick (“ The Dating Game Killer ”) have come together. But not only the cast is familiar to the audience: apart from a new (holiday) setting and some beastly word battles with a “bridal alarm” vibes, the bräsig, which has been somewhat bräsig and fairly exciting crime comedy, simply sets it again-and yes, that is actually possible! – on a twist similar to the debut.
Does Hope (Blake Lively) take revenge on Stephanie (Anna Kendrick)? Or does she mean that really seriously with the wedding invitation to Italy?
After Emily Nelson alias Hope McLanden (Blake Lively) has served a long -term prison sentence on her twin sister Faith, she is now at large again. So she also visits a reading of her friend Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick), who has now been a true crime author, who once contributed decisively to her arrest-and therefore asks her to be there as a bridal test with Mafioso Dante Versano (Michele Morrone) in Capri.
Because her funky assistant Vicky (Alex Newell) sees good chances to blame the trip to the public on her vlog and boost book sales, the suspicious Stephanie reluctantly says. On the island, the author also meets Emily's sarcastic ex-man Sean (Henry Golding) under the wedding party, with whom she had an affair. A short time later, Sean and Dante are murdered – and the unsuspecting Stephanie becomes the main suspect due to some unfortunate chains. Perhaps Emily pursues an insidious revenge plan?
A lot is taken out of the sunny setting
“Only a little one” was actually shot at original locations in Italy in spring 2024 – and Paul Feig slaughtered the sun -drenched backdrops of Capri and the HadrianSvilla near Rome for all kinds of holiday mood. Especially in the first half of the film, the audience thinks herself in a “bridal alarm” spin-off: “Only a little” “author Jessica Sharzer and the newly added Laeta Kalogridis (twist test thanks to” Shutter Island “) offer several crispy female characters as well as coarse sayings for male impotence and widened female genitals. With all the sarcastic-spiced cocks around, Sean is by no means the only one who drinks the lying celebration tolerable.
Morbid hints in the sequel, especially in the first half in the first half, are very subtle, but at least quite airy. For example, Emily mentions on a steeply sloping rock of Villa Jovis to Stephanie with a ambiguous wink that the emperor Tiberius had to dump unpleasant interlocutors here. As a wedding ceremony, a piece of Ennio Morricone's “Play me the song of death” soundtrack-and an allusion to the mafia “classic” The Godfather “is not missing as a (possible) track for murder education.
“Only a little fell” steal instead of sparrows when it comes to postcard-suitable panoramas!
The investigation enjoys a priority in the somewhat watery script, also because the all the mysterious characters are primarily concerned with themselves. However, the then surprising, but also excessively constructed turns, which consistently continue to spider the motifs of the first part of the photo bans, weird relationship conditions and incestuous loves, are saved until the last third of the film. Instead, the strengths of the female leadership duo focus on the solid murderer search:
The gratifyingly diverse Blake Lively not only plays completely opaque and divisible proud, but at some point literally, literally psychotic. Anna Kendrick, on the other hand, once again gives the cunning, rapidly chattering and combining hobby criminologist. You can then – despite the house arrest – in a serving car of the Housekeeping lady of the FBI cheap, the escape past the Italian police. Ultimately, “only a little one” is not a necessary and unnecessarily bloated continuation in terms of term – and so it is not entirely clear why Paul Feig has soaked his golden rule for this. Instead, a pregnant epilogue at the Trevi fountain in Rome even opens the door directly to another sequel …
Conclusion: Above all, the joy of playing of the two main actors, some sharply seasoned word battles and the pretty original locations give “only a little fell” a solid entertainment value. In addition, the crime comedy against Italian vacation sculis is a bit fluffy and constructed.