SBG 124: A Simple Favor

Published: April 22, 2024, 4 p.m.

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that would risk it all for Linda Cardellini to paint us like one of her French girls.\xa0\nThis week, Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out to talk about why the 2018 crime comedy A Simple Favor Should\u2019ve Been Gay(er). This movie is honestly a masterpiece. It stars Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick, Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians), and queer icon Linda Cardellini. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this movie somehow, it follows the story of two moms, Stephanie and Emily, who meet at their kids\u2019 school and quickly become unlikely besties with benefits. When Emily suddenly goes missing after asking for \u2018a simple favor\u2019, Stephanie leaps into action to unravel the mystery of her best friend\u2019s disappearance (but not without fucking Emily\u2019s husband, wearing all her clothes, and playing mommy to Emily\u2019s son).\nEvery gay remembers where they were when they first saw Blake Lively kiss Anna Kendrick on the mouth after calling her baby approximately 69 times. Nothing is more frustrating than eating up 2 hours of chart-topping chemistry and glaringly obvious foreplay to then watch Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) and Emily (Blake Lively) betray one another in the end. Even with the disappointing ending, this is a movie we can\u2019t help loving wholeheartedly for being just so incredibly gay and bonkers unhinged. Emily is canonically bisexual from the jump, quick to tell Stephanie all about her hot painter ex (Linda Cardellini) and threesome with her husband\u2019s TA. After all, what straight woman has a life-size portrait of their full bush just hanging in the main room of their house for all to see? In addition to the dating and sexual experiences that she is absolutely not shy about, Emily exudes bisexual confidence from the second she appears on screen in slow-mo in the pouring rain wearing the hottest suit ever made. From the moment we watch Stephanie become a mess of gay panic in front of Emily, we are hooked on them as a couple. The two U-Haul faster than anything we\u2019ve ever seen before; sharing martinis, secrets, husbands, houses and spit while loudly declaring themselves to be \u201cbest friends\u201d after knowing one another for approximately 2 weeks.\nWhile Emily may be the most open about her queerness, there is no question in our minds about Stephanie\u2019s sexuality. This girl is down bad for Emily, oscillating between the classic \u201cDo I want to be her or be with her\u201d that many a sapphic can relate to. Sure, she sleeps with Emily\u2019s husband, but you cannot convince us that she actually cares about that man. Emily doesn\u2019t even care about that man. It still makes zero sense to us that Stephanie and Emily do not take the 4 million dollars and run away together into the sunset after toasting with martinis over Emily\u2019s gravestone.\xa0\nWe know one thing for sure, A Simple Favor Should\u2019ve Been Gay(er).\xa0\nFollow us on Twitter: (@lezhangoutpod) and answer our Q & Gay questions at the end of every episode. You can also join us on Facebook.com/lezhangoutpod and Instagram (@lezhangoutpod). Find us individually on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida).\xa0\nYou can support Lez Hang Out while unlocking a bunch of awesome perks like access to our exclusive Discord, monthly full-length bonus episodes (including a brand new one dropping today on Red, White, and Royal Blue), weekly ad-free episodes, and more by joining us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon. You can also support the podcast by buying our original merch at bit.ly/lezshop and purchasing our original Lez-ssentials songs for as little as $1 each on Bandcamp!\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices