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At its best, which is pretty much whenever Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively are onscreen together, "Another Simple Favor" approaches the near-perfection of the 2018 movie that preceded it. If the new picture doesn't quite achieve the elevated state of the first one, the fault lies in its madly complicated storyline and, oddly, the sunny distractions of a Mediterranean spring on the isle of Capri, a setting that slightly undermines the mean-girl sass that made the previous film so much fun.

Several years after the amusingly murderous events of "A Simple Favor," we briefly return to the Connecticut suburb where video blogger Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick) still lives. She has continued vlogging from her tidy kitchen ("Hi, moms!"), but has also branched out into writing true-crime books. Her troublesome pal Emily Nelson (Lively) is no longer around, of course -- she's doing 20 years in prison for the murders we witnessed in the first picture.

So imagine Stephanie's surprise when, midway through a personal appearance in support of her upcoming book, she sees Emily come swanning in through the door (looking fabulous, of course, in a slouchy gray fedora and white suspenders). "Did you break out of prison?" Stephanie asks. Not exactly. It turns out that Emily is engaged to an Italian bigwig with shadowy law-enforcement connections, and she wants Stephanie to be the maid of honor at their upcoming wedding. Stephanie is wary, but she sees this as an opportunity to expand her vlogging audience, which she has been regaling with stories about her Emily adventures for years.

Having established this setup, returning director Paul Feig flies us off to Capri, where the narrative, which is never less than stuffed with plot developments, unfolds. On hand amid the island's rose bowers and lemon trees are Emily's babbling mom (Elizabeth Perkins) and conniving aunt (Allison Janney), her groom-to-be (Michele Morrone), her boozy ex-husband (Henry Golding), a glowering mafia boss (Lorenzo de Moor), a hapless FBI agent (Taylor Ortega), a killer or two, a couple of menacing doppelgangers, and a comic-relief hotel maid (Anita Pititto). There's a lot going on, especially when you factor in the extensive chattering on the craggy cliffs of Capri and the skulking around the long corridors of the luxury hotel where all the characters are staying (also the site of a late-night pool scene that rekindles the sapphic attractions of Stephanie and Emily's relationship.)

Cinematographer John Schwartzman, also returning, does dazzling justice to the beauty of Capri, and wardrobe chief Renee Ehrlich Kalfus once more provides Lively with a series of knockout ensembles (including a great floppy sun hat with a brim broad enough to shelter a family of four). There are elements of the film that muffle its verve, though, despite the fact that considerable effort obviously went into creating them. There's a long truth serum scene, for example, which is dulled by its unwieldy structure, and a scene with Perkins in a hotel bedroom that's devoid of sparkle (in a movie in which sparkle is practically everything).

On the other hand, the writers, Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis, have come up with enough sharp lines ("He was so handsome I would have licked ice cream off his face," says Stephanie at one point) to trigger fan hopes that there might be another sequel. Judging by the last scene, that's a strong possibility.

("Another Simple Favor" is streaming now on Amazon Prime.)

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To find out more about Kurt Loder and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at www.creators.com.

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