May 9, 2025 • 8 mins
Another Simple Favor
Stephanie Smothers agrees to travel to Italy to be the maid of honour for the devious and cunning Emily Nelson. However, she soon suspects Emily's good will is part of an elaborate plan for revenge.
The Wedding Banquet
Hoping to stay in the country, a gay man proposes a green card marriage to a female friend in exchange for paying for her IVF treatment. However, things soon get complicated when his grandmother surprises them with plans for an extravagant Korean wedding banquet.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at b.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And Ah. That's Rihanna Rurey. She was at the met
(00:34):
Gala this week looking glam. She announced baby number three.
I think, yeah, she's with the asp Rocky A. Yeah,
look at me keeping up with the things. Yeah. She
announced that she is pregnant with her third child when
she was at the met Gala this week. Lord was
at the met Galla as well, and she has announced
(00:56):
a world tour for some new music, although I said
that the world tour is not quite a world tour
because it doesn't include New Zealand yet, so hopefully she's
happy to include that at some point. Right now, it's
twenty four minutes to ten and Teska Rudkin, our film reviewer,
is here this morning. Kioda, Hello, we have two movies
to talk about this morning. Let's begin with one that
(01:16):
is streaming at home at the moment. This one's on
Prime Video. We'll have a listened to another simple favor.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Emily, how are you here?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I'm getting married to old friends, new beginnings and not
getting poisoned. M Dan So the stars, Blake Lively and
Anna Kendrick Blake Lively, so one of these exercies sort
of slightly controversial at the moment.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yes she is.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
And Anna Kendrick was asked what it was like to
be back working with her again. And Andrew Kendrick, who
was both very dry and sort of slightly sarcastic both
on screen and off screen, kind of went yeah, you know,
it didn't really say anything, which, look, this is a
sequel to A Simple Favor, which was a twenty eighteen comedy.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
That kind of took everybody a little bit by surprise.
It was a lot of fun, but it was also
kind of bonkers. It was sort of a little bit
psychotic and a little bit erotic, and I don't think
anyone was quite expecting this from these two, but it worked.
And Kendrick played Stephanie Smothers, and she was a widow
and a mummy blogger and she kind of gets caught
(02:32):
up in this very glamorous life of one of her
son's friends' mothers and plays Emily played by Blake, and
she sort of gets caught up and it all just
dead turns a little bit nuts, and there's lots of sordid.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Secrets that come out. Murder hookups, all sorts of things,
and they've obviously decided to return back to this little
story here. And at this point, Stephanie is writing books.
She's sort of a bit of an experted true crime
and solving true crime, and she's trying to get on
with her life. And then Emily, who was wonderfully overdressed
(03:07):
as always, saunters back into her life, and she's whisked
away to Italy to be the matron of honor at
Emily's wedding to a mob boss. And then off we
kind of go. There's all these sort of twists and turns.
You know, often, Jack, when I talk to you about sequels,
I say, you, look, you know you don't need to
have seen the original. I think you need to have
(03:28):
seen the original, because even if you haven't seen the original,
this is still quite a hard film to keep up
with an unset what's going on. So we're both on
both screening on Prime video. So watch the first one
before you watch the second one. It might just make
a little bit more sense. The vibe is still here.
(03:49):
There's this strange connection between Emily and Stephanie. It's a
bit bonkers, but it's just all a little bit less,
and that's probably because we know what to expect. I
really love Kendrick. I love her sort of snacky, honest
narration through this film. Everyone else seems to be oblivious
to the madness going on, and it's almost like she's
(04:11):
kind of winking at us at the audience, going, I know, yeah,
isn't this nuts? Isn't this crazy? So I really love
her character. But look, the film is probably regardless of
sort of plot and twists and all that things, this
film is more about the gorgeous Italian setting, the outrageously
good wardrobe, and frivolity.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
This is a sit down on a you know, at
the end of a busy weekend and just enjoy some escapism.
Also starts this time around Alison Jane and Elizabeth Perkins as well.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yeah okay, cool, Yeah, very good. So that's another simple
favor that's on prime video and next film is showing
in cinemas at the moment. Let's have a listen to
the wedding banquet.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
I have a proposal, you marry me and ilp for
les to grow a baby, right, h.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
My having a man. It's for the cars. We're helping
to get a couple set together.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Okay, that's the wedding Banquet starring Lily Gladstone. Tell us
about it.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yes, so this is a film about family expectations, cultural identity, queerness.
It's really it's solid. It's very well put together. It's
got a lovely cast, and I like the fact that
kind of looks at how messy life can be. But
some people might be going, oh, the wedding bankrupt. I've
seen this film before, and yes you have. This is
a remake of Ang Lee's nineteen ninety three film by
(05:30):
director Andrew On and he has worked with the original
co writer James Seamers to update this story to kind
of bring it into twenty twenty five. You could say
it's not as funny as the original and maybe not
as emotionally hard hitting as the original, but there are
some really lovely, sort of subtle laughs to be had here,
(05:53):
and the film goes out of its way. I suppose
it's very easy with the situations that you've got going
on in this film, that you could turn them into
you know, you could get easy laughs out of it,
and in a way, it's almost like the film has
gone out of its way not to do that. I
personally would have loved it a little bit more humor,
because I think the cast is really good and could
have gone there, but they've kept it quite serious. Yep,
(06:17):
the Gladstone, Joan, Chen, Bao, and Yang, they all appear
in this film, and it kind of captures how society
has changed since this first film was released, how we've
become more accepting excuse me, about sexuality and family structures. Right,
and maybe while the first film spoke to the shame
of being gay a little, but this one moves the
(06:38):
story on and it looks at the generations kind of
letting that shame go. So you've got this loving lesbian couple,
You've got this gay couple. The lesbian couple want to
have a baby, the gay couple want to get married,
and men needs a green card, and it's all there's
all these sort of little complications, and so they men
decide to marry Angela. So they decide to have a
(07:00):
sham wedding basically, and this is this is so that
everyone can get what they want. You know, Angela can
get money for an IV, yes, men can get a
green card. But then Min's grandmother comes from Korea and
she comes he comes from a very well known Korean family,
and she expects the wedding banquet and she expects, you know,
everything to kind of you know, be perfect to Edits
(07:22):
not quite so much. So yeah, no, it's nothing and
it's solid. I think I'm going back to that original film,
which was, you know, such a breakout film for ang
Lee and so funny and had that sort of emotional
element to it as well. Yeah, so, you know, but
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Nice. Yeah, right, So that's the wedding banquet that showing
in cinema is at the moment. Another simple favor is
Francisca's first film that's showing on prime video and will
have all the deets for those on the News Talks
THEB website. Thank you, Francis. Don't forget, of course, that
the French Film Festival is kicking off around the country
later this month from Ketty Kendy to Dunedin. There are
(08:02):
going to be twenty three films showing, including comedies, thrillers, dramas,
a little for everyone and you can win tickets. So
go to news Talks headb dot co dot m Z
forard slash win. You absolutely should have bookmarked that page already.
You can enter there and you can find out more
about the French Film Festival twenty twenty five. In a
couple of minutes on News Talks, he'd be no fuss
(08:22):
sticky buns just in time for Mother's Day. These are
really really easy and incredibly delicious if you're looking for
a simple way to treat mum Tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to Newstalks dB from nine am Saturday, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at b.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And Ah. That's Rihanna Rurey. She was at the met
(00:34):
Gala this week looking glam. She announced baby number three.
I think, yeah, she's with the asp Rocky A. Yeah,
look at me keeping up with the things. Yeah. She
announced that she is pregnant with her third child when
she was at the met Gala this week. Lord was
at the met Galla as well, and she has announced
(00:56):
a world tour for some new music, although I said
that the world tour is not quite a world tour
because it doesn't include New Zealand yet, so hopefully she's
happy to include that at some point. Right now, it's
twenty four minutes to ten and Teska Rudkin, our film reviewer,
is here this morning. Kioda, Hello, we have two movies
to talk about this morning. Let's begin with one that
(01:16):
is streaming at home at the moment. This one's on
Prime Video. We'll have a listened to another simple favor.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Emily, how are you here?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I'm getting married to old friends, new beginnings and not
getting poisoned. M Dan So the stars, Blake Lively and
Anna Kendrick Blake Lively, so one of these exercies sort
of slightly controversial at the moment.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yes she is.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
And Anna Kendrick was asked what it was like to
be back working with her again. And Andrew Kendrick, who
was both very dry and sort of slightly sarcastic both
on screen and off screen, kind of went yeah, you know,
it didn't really say anything, which, look, this is a
sequel to A Simple Favor, which was a twenty eighteen comedy.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
That kind of took everybody a little bit by surprise.
It was a lot of fun, but it was also
kind of bonkers. It was sort of a little bit
psychotic and a little bit erotic, and I don't think
anyone was quite expecting this from these two, but it worked.
And Kendrick played Stephanie Smothers, and she was a widow
and a mummy blogger and she kind of gets caught
(02:32):
up in this very glamorous life of one of her
son's friends' mothers and plays Emily played by Blake, and
she sort of gets caught up and it all just
dead turns a little bit nuts, and there's lots of sordid.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Secrets that come out. Murder hookups, all sorts of things,
and they've obviously decided to return back to this little
story here. And at this point, Stephanie is writing books.
She's sort of a bit of an experted true crime
and solving true crime, and she's trying to get on
with her life. And then Emily, who was wonderfully overdressed
(03:07):
as always, saunters back into her life, and she's whisked
away to Italy to be the matron of honor at
Emily's wedding to a mob boss. And then off we
kind of go. There's all these sort of twists and turns.
You know, often, Jack, when I talk to you about sequels,
I say, you, look, you know you don't need to
have seen the original. I think you need to have
(03:28):
seen the original, because even if you haven't seen the original,
this is still quite a hard film to keep up
with an unset what's going on. So we're both on
both screening on Prime video. So watch the first one
before you watch the second one. It might just make
a little bit more sense. The vibe is still here.
(03:49):
There's this strange connection between Emily and Stephanie. It's a
bit bonkers, but it's just all a little bit less,
and that's probably because we know what to expect. I
really love Kendrick. I love her sort of snacky, honest
narration through this film. Everyone else seems to be oblivious
to the madness going on, and it's almost like she's
(04:11):
kind of winking at us at the audience, going, I know, yeah,
isn't this nuts? Isn't this crazy? So I really love
her character. But look, the film is probably regardless of
sort of plot and twists and all that things, this
film is more about the gorgeous Italian setting, the outrageously
good wardrobe, and frivolity.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
This is a sit down on a you know, at
the end of a busy weekend and just enjoy some escapism.
Also starts this time around Alison Jane and Elizabeth Perkins as well.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Yeah okay, cool, Yeah, very good. So that's another simple
favor that's on prime video and next film is showing
in cinemas at the moment. Let's have a listen to
the wedding banquet.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
I have a proposal, you marry me and ilp for
les to grow a baby, right, h.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
My having a man. It's for the cars. We're helping
to get a couple set together.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Okay, that's the wedding Banquet starring Lily Gladstone. Tell us
about it.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yes, so this is a film about family expectations, cultural identity, queerness.
It's really it's solid. It's very well put together. It's
got a lovely cast, and I like the fact that
kind of looks at how messy life can be. But
some people might be going, oh, the wedding bankrupt. I've
seen this film before, and yes you have. This is
a remake of Ang Lee's nineteen ninety three film by
(05:30):
director Andrew On and he has worked with the original
co writer James Seamers to update this story to kind
of bring it into twenty twenty five. You could say
it's not as funny as the original and maybe not
as emotionally hard hitting as the original, but there are
some really lovely, sort of subtle laughs to be had here,
(05:53):
and the film goes out of its way. I suppose
it's very easy with the situations that you've got going
on in this film, that you could turn them into
you know, you could get easy laughs out of it,
and in a way, it's almost like the film has
gone out of its way not to do that. I
personally would have loved it a little bit more humor,
because I think the cast is really good and could
have gone there, but they've kept it quite serious. Yep,
(06:17):
the Gladstone, Joan, Chen, Bao, and Yang, they all appear
in this film, and it kind of captures how society
has changed since this first film was released, how we've
become more accepting excuse me, about sexuality and family structures. Right,
and maybe while the first film spoke to the shame
of being gay a little, but this one moves the
(06:38):
story on and it looks at the generations kind of
letting that shame go. So you've got this loving lesbian couple,
You've got this gay couple. The lesbian couple want to
have a baby, the gay couple want to get married,
and men needs a green card, and it's all there's
all these sort of little complications, and so they men
decide to marry Angela. So they decide to have a
(07:00):
sham wedding basically, and this is this is so that
everyone can get what they want. You know, Angela can
get money for an IV, yes, men can get a
green card. But then Min's grandmother comes from Korea and
she comes he comes from a very well known Korean family,
and she expects the wedding banquet and she expects, you know,
everything to kind of you know, be perfect to Edits
(07:22):
not quite so much. So yeah, no, it's nothing and
it's solid. I think I'm going back to that original film,
which was, you know, such a breakout film for ang
Lee and so funny and had that sort of emotional
element to it as well. Yeah, so, you know, but
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Nice. Yeah, right, So that's the wedding banquet that showing
in cinema is at the moment. Another simple favor is
Francisca's first film that's showing on prime video and will
have all the deets for those on the News Talks
THEB website. Thank you, Francis. Don't forget, of course, that
the French Film Festival is kicking off around the country
later this month from Ketty Kendy to Dunedin. There are
(08:02):
going to be twenty three films showing, including comedies, thrillers, dramas,
a little for everyone and you can win tickets. So
go to news Talks headb dot co dot m Z
forard slash win. You absolutely should have bookmarked that page already.
You can enter there and you can find out more
about the French Film Festival twenty twenty five. In a
couple of minutes on News Talks, he'd be no fuss
(08:22):
sticky buns just in time for Mother's Day. These are
really really easy and incredibly delicious if you're looking for
a simple way to treat mum Tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to Newstalks dB from nine am Saturday, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
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