There’s a scene in Groundhog Day that finds Bill Murray’s time-looped weatherman, Phil Connors, attempting to recreate an evening with Producer Rita Hanson (Andie MacDowell). In the previous reliving, the night had been almost perfect. The only thing that derailed it was whatever mystical force that keeps resetting Phil’s existence. However, in attempting to do it all over again, he fumbles at every turn. He rushes past some things, is overly mechanical in others, and, throughout, is a little too keen to get that special kiss. If you remember that scene, you already have a good idea of how Another Simple Favor feels.

It isn’t bad. It is just too eager to recreate the first film’s vibes and beautiful clothes. As a result, the audience feels like Rita, watching something you want to like undermining your positive feelings repeatedly. I never disliked Another Simple Favor¸, but I frequently wished the movie tried less hard to be the first movie and worked harder to craft a different sort of twisty, satisfying yarn around the characters.

It is years after Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) unraveled Emily’s (Blake Lively) plot involving killing her lookalike sister and faking her own death. The mommy influencer turned true crime influencer is struggling a bit. She’s shut down her true crime account after an investigation has left her questioning her skills. Doing so has, in turn, harmed the sales of her book, based on the events of the first film. She needs something to shake her up and change her fortunes, and she needs it right away. Even if Stephanie doesn’t quite believe it, her friend Darren (Andrew Rannells) and her book agent Vicky (Alex Newell) certainly do.

That opportunity swans into the room in the midst of a book event in the form of a newly sprung Emily. She has a new suitor, Dante Versano (Michele Morrone, handsome wallpaper), with deep pockets and a team of incredibly skilled lawyers. As a result, instead of staying in prison, she’s off to Capri to get married. More importantly, she wants Stephanie to come along as her maid of honor. While goosing her sales, the trip to Italy quickly becomes a bloody, dangerous mess for Stephanie.

All the plot in Another Simple Favor both fails to recreate the magic of the first installment and serves mainly to frustrate. In A Simple Favor, the plot was complex, with well-done twists and red herrings. It allowed Kendrick to show that Stephanie’s earnestness did not preclude her being both smart and clever. This time out, the film gives the actor few opportunities to demonstrate that. For one, most of that earnestness has dissipated. That mix of World’s Best PTA Mom who doesn’t resent it at all and surprisingly crack detective is sorely missed.

Additionally, without Stephanie on the case, things are less uncovered or revealed and more just sort of happen. The mystery element is replaced by various exposition dumps, usually providing details the audience will likely have already gathered. That gives the film the quality of always trying to catch up with the viewer, a not especially appealing vibe.

Most of last film’s supporting cast, including Andrew Rannels and the other moms and Bashir Salahuddin as the shrewd Detective Summerville, ended up on the sidelines makes the tonal limpness all the more glaring. Only Henry Golding, as Sean, Emily’s ex-husband and Stephanie’s ex-lover, gets any showcase. The good news is that Golding seems to enjoy his turn as what his character calls a “drunken malcontent.”

The new supporting characters are almost entirely not up to snuff. As a mysterious woman who keeps improbably popping up, Taylor Ortega has promise, but the film never realizes it. Elizabeth Perkins, as another gin-soaked and weird matriarch, is fun. Allison Janney, as Aunt Linda, feels like the variety of role Janney loves, while this writer thinks is perhaps her weakest gear.

Still, there’s enough of what made A Simple Favor a fun favorite in Another Simple Favor’s DNA that the viewing is not a complete wash. Even if he is on a cold streak (Last Christmas, The School for Good and Evil, Jackpot!) and this film is another direct-to-streaming effort, director Paul Feig can still compose a frame. His current favorite cinematographer, John Schwartzman, collaborates well with him, ensuring the Capri locations have some life and liveliness in addition to their pre-existing beauty.

The costuming is also, once again, on point. Emily’s suits don’t hit as hard because the audience now knows them, but they still look great. And when Another Simple Favor manages to surprise, as with the red accented train to Emily’s wedding dress, it is still arresting. Certain plot developments allow for some wackier choices as well. Lively bedecked in a massive black veil and cross the size of her abdomen is one such look to keep an eye out for.

But it really all comes down to Lively and Kendrick’s weird, warped best friend chemistry. Its development in A Simple Favor was a highlight and is absolutely this film’s best weapon. The more Another Simple Favor keeps them separate, the less the audience gets of what they want. The less the audience gets that chemistry, the more the film suffers. It is also, perhaps, the one area where this sequel isn’t just aping its predecessor but allowing itself to evolve. Kendrick gets to be a little nastier, Lively a bit stranger, and less in control, which makes sense given what they’ve put each other through. Not all of it works, admittedly. But the overall feeling that these two odd in very different ways people are somehow wonderful and deadly compliments to each other is excellent.

All told, Another Simple Favor feels like an early/mid-90s sequel. It may seem a strange comparison, but I kept thinking of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York as I watched this film. There is a new location and new supporting characters, all in service of trying to do the first film again. And as HA2, if you like the first one, you’ll still enjoy Another Simple Favor. Just not as much. Much like Phil Connors lying in a snowbank, this film realizes too late you can’t just do the same thing and expect the magic to happen.

Another Simple Favor mixes you a bone-dry martini on Prime Video starting May 1.

Another Simple Favor Trailer: