Blake Lively- Jason Baldoni and NYT - False Light claims

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally would not have done this. Her team is failing her. She can promote the film and stick to low key red carpet appearances and cast conferences like she's been doing. TV interviews are too personal. I think she really thought that when she filed in Dec, that Baldoni would be done away with and she could go back to her life and movies and she would have mass support. That may have initially happened but the tide turned when both sides were released. People feel contentious about her and Baldoni and she should be laying low until the trial is over. You cannot accuse a man of these things and destroy his family and career then go back to your regular life like all is well.

The Seth Meyers interview was a disaster. It was just so obvious they agreed that he would ask a softball question about her “intense year” so that she could say the comment that she said and then they could move on with funny anecdotes about the movie Frozen (what a relevant reference Blake) and her kids. It was so obvious and the fact that they disabled comments and didn’t feature it on all their platforms….ouch.

This is almost a master class on how not to handle a scandal. Either her team is failing her or they are no longer listening to advice and just think they know best.

"Disaster" implies something went wrong in the interview. It didn't. The interview was normal and fine.

It is standard on a late night show like that for the host to offer softball questions to an actor or entertainer. It would be a prerequisite of the entertainer agreeing to do the show -- no one is going to show up to do Seth Myers if they think they are going to be grilled about their messy divorce, their reported conflict with a costar, or other negative story. And they do stuff like this all the time, where someone who has had negative press recently goes on SM to gently address it and then pivot to their current project. See, e.g., every appearance by John Mulaney on the program in the last few years.

The people who think it was a "disaster" are people who already hate Lively and are fully on JB's side. This is a small fraction of the viewing public but this group has an intense and rabid online presence. So they will flood the comments in any posted version of the interview. Not because the interview itself has anything of interest in it (it's completely banal, like 99% of all celeb interviews) but because it's an opportunity to attack Lively, their sworn enemy.

If the interview itself were problematic, they'd take down the videos altogether. It wouldn't be available for streaming on Peacock. Alas, the interview is not only fine, it almost certainly did it's expected job of getting people to check out Another Simple Favor this weekend, which appears to the the top streamed movie on Amazon Prime just two days after it's release.

It also enabled Lively to appear pleasant and professional in public despite all the bad press, which will probably leave a positive impression with the vast majority of viewers who are not following the court cases and don't care that much about them.

I truly do not see what the "disaster" is here. It's fine.

Another Simple Favor is #1 on prime because it has no competition. Nothing new released at the same time to rival it and it’s in the top ten with movies from a decade ago etc. It’s almost impossible for it not to debut at #1 under those circumstances. Amazon seems to have disabled the reviews on this movie but not any other movie, it has 2.5 stars on rotten tomatoes and horrible press reviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The post review is quite funny. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2025/05/01/another-simple-favor-kendrick-lively-review/ It must truly be horrid given the audience review.

Can anyone share a gift article of it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The post review is quite funny. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2025/05/01/another-simple-favor-kendrick-lively-review/ It must truly be horrid given the audience review.

Can anyone share a gift article of it?

Here you go, he gave it one star. https://wapo.st/3YuxSt2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally would not have done this. Her team is failing her. She can promote the film and stick to low key red carpet appearances and cast conferences like she's been doing. TV interviews are too personal. I think she really thought that when she filed in Dec, that Baldoni would be done away with and she could go back to her life and movies and she would have mass support. That may have initially happened but the tide turned when both sides were released. People feel contentious about her and Baldoni and she should be laying low until the trial is over. You cannot accuse a man of these things and destroy his family and career then go back to your regular life like all is well.

The Seth Meyers interview was a disaster. It was just so obvious they agreed that he would ask a softball question about her “intense year” so that she could say the comment that she said and then they could move on with funny anecdotes about the movie Frozen (what a relevant reference Blake) and her kids. It was so obvious and the fact that they disabled comments and didn’t feature it on all their platforms….ouch.

This is almost a master class on how not to handle a scandal. Either her team is failing her or they are no longer listening to advice and just think they know best.

"Disaster" implies something went wrong in the interview. It didn't. The interview was normal and fine.

It is standard on a late night show like that for the host to offer softball questions to an actor or entertainer. It would be a prerequisite of the entertainer agreeing to do the show -- no one is going to show up to do Seth Myers if they think they are going to be grilled about their messy divorce, their reported conflict with a costar, or other negative story. And they do stuff like this all the time, where someone who has had negative press recently goes on SM to gently address it and then pivot to their current project. See, e.g., every appearance by John Mulaney on the program in the last few years.

The people who think it was a "disaster" are people who already hate Lively and are fully on JB's side. This is a small fraction of the viewing public but this group has an intense and rabid online presence. So they will flood the comments in any posted version of the interview. Not because the interview itself has anything of interest in it (it's completely banal, like 99% of all celeb interviews) but because it's an opportunity to attack Lively, their sworn enemy.

If the interview itself were problematic, they'd take down the videos altogether. It wouldn't be available for streaming on Peacock. Alas, the interview is not only fine, it almost certainly did it's expected job of getting people to check out Another Simple Favor this weekend, which appears to the the top streamed movie on Amazon Prime just two days after it's release.

It also enabled Lively to appear pleasant and professional in public despite all the bad press, which will probably leave a positive impression with the vast majority of viewers who are not following the court cases and don't care that much about them.

I truly do not see what the "disaster" is here. It's fine.

I’d say it was a disaster if the Seth Meyer’s show felt it had to disable comments. Come on, how often does that really happen on a softball late night show interview? I agree nothing egregious happened, but in terms of getting the public on Blake side I don’t I think it helped. I also think she continues to come across really awkward in interviews. Seth does a really good job with people, but it’s clear she it’s just not able to come off as authentic. When she says things like, “I have to be Disneyland for them,” when discussing her kids, it just comes off as really disingenuous and awkward.

As for a simple favor, that metric is meaningless right now - too soon to tell - but who knows, the buzz could help the movie and it probably helps that Blake is playing a villain. It’s not that hard to get number one for a little while, the success of the movie will depend on how long it stays there, and if they can create enough buzz and word-of-mouth to keep it streaming.

In the long run, I’ll be curious to see what kind of things she gets cast in in the coming years and if this impacts whether or not people want to work with her or not. I could see it going both ways. She certainly has people talking about her.

[Anonymous]

Is straight to streaming ever a sign of a successful movie?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally would not have done this. Her team is failing her. She can promote the film and stick to low key red carpet appearances and cast conferences like she's been doing. TV interviews are too personal. I think she really thought that when she filed in Dec, that Baldoni would be done away with and she could go back to her life and movies and she would have mass support. That may have initially happened but the tide turned when both sides were released. People feel contentious about her and Baldoni and she should be laying low until the trial is over. You cannot accuse a man of these things and destroy his family and career then go back to your regular life like all is well.

The Seth Meyers interview was a disaster. It was just so obvious they agreed that he would ask a softball question about her “intense year” so that she could say the comment that she said and then they could move on with funny anecdotes about the movie Frozen (what a relevant reference Blake) and her kids. It was so obvious and the fact that they disabled comments and didn’t feature it on all their platforms….ouch.

This is almost a master class on how not to handle a scandal. Either her team is failing her or they are no longer listening to advice and just think they know best.

"Disaster" implies something went wrong in the interview. It didn't. The interview was normal and fine.

It is standard on a late night show like that for the host to offer softball questions to an actor or entertainer. It would be a prerequisite of the entertainer agreeing to do the show -- no one is going to show up to do Seth Myers if they think they are going to be grilled about their messy divorce, their reported conflict with a costar, or other negative story. And they do stuff like this all the time, where someone who has had negative press recently goes on SM to gently address it and then pivot to their current project. See, e.g., every appearance by John Mulaney on the program in the last few years.

The people who think it was a "disaster" are people who already hate Lively and are fully on JB's side. This is a small fraction of the viewing public but this group has an intense and rabid online presence. So they will flood the comments in any posted version of the interview. Not because the interview itself has anything of interest in it (it's completely banal, like 99% of all celeb interviews) but because it's an opportunity to attack Lively, their sworn enemy.

If the interview itself were problematic, they'd take down the videos altogether. It wouldn't be available for streaming on Peacock. Alas, the interview is not only fine, it almost certainly did it's expected job of getting people to check out Another Simple Favor this weekend, which appears to the the top streamed movie on Amazon Prime just two days after it's release.

It also enabled Lively to appear pleasant and professional in public despite all the bad press, which will probably leave a positive impression with the vast majority of viewers who are not following the court cases and don't care that much about them.

I truly do not see what the "disaster" is here. It's fine.

Another Simple Favor is #1 on prime because it has no competition. Nothing new released at the same time to rival it and it’s in the top ten with movies from a decade ago etc. It’s almost impossible for it not to debut at #1 under those circumstances. Amazon seems to have disabled the reviews on this movie but not any other movie, it has 2.5 stars on rotten tomatoes and horrible press reviews.

Reviews have been decidedly mixed. It has a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes with is not a critical darling but also not a bomb. It got good reviews from: the Times (UK), Slant, NYT, Daily Telegraph, TheWrap, RogerEbert.com, Mashable, The Guardian, IndieWire, among others. It also got some notable pans, from WaPo, AV Club, Slate, Seattle Times, the Globe and Mail. I haven't watched it yet but my impression is that it's a silly movie with great visuals in a killer location, but a thin plot and some hammy acting. The thing is -- a lot of people (including me) enjoy a movie like that from time to time. So I'm not surprised that it's gotten the reviews it has. Some people will never like a movie in that genre no matter what, others can enjoy it for what it is.

And it's not true it has no competition on Prime. I'm currently watching Etóile on Prime which is why I haven't watched Another Simple Favor. Here's the current Top 10 for Prime in the US (from FlixPatrol):

1. – Another Simple Favor 1 d
2. – Conclave 11 d
3. – The Accountant 38 d
4. +1 Gladiator II 11 d
5. +2 G20 15 d
6. -2 Reacher 252 d
7. n/a Twisters
8. -2 Étoile 8 d
9. – The Summer I Turned Pretty 26 d
10. -2 The Wheel of Time 173 d

Conclave and Gladiator II are very recent films and Conclave is especially topical, and both hit Prime within the last two weeks. G20, like Another Simple Favor, is another silly straight to streaming movie but it came out very recently and would be an obvious alternative to ASF for someone who wanted to boycott Lively. The Accountant is getting pushed hard because of the sequel coming out. Étoile came out just last weekend and probably has big overlap with the potential audience for ASF (women in their 30s and 40s looking for a pretty but engaging distraction from every day life).

So I'd say ASF is doing well. If it had bombed, there's no way it would be ranking above all of those other options. Plenty of people are choosing to watch it. Amazon's probably pretty happy, especially given what has been happening with Lively lately. I'm sure they were nervous, especially when JB supporters started tanking the movie's online rating on sites like IMDB before it even came out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is straight to streaming ever a sign of a successful movie?

Hi, welcome to 2025, things are different now.

It was made with the intention of being streaming only. The original movie had a theater release and did well (made 97m worldwide after costing 20m) but it really found traction on streaming and became a surprise streaming hit. That's the whole reason they made the sequel, which Amazon bankrolled specifically so it could be streamed. I don't know that Feig, Lively, or Kendrick were dying to make another one, but Amazon threw a bunch of money at them and agreed to pay to film in Capri so it would have been dumb not to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally would not have done this. Her team is failing her. She can promote the film and stick to low key red carpet appearances and cast conferences like she's been doing. TV interviews are too personal. I think she really thought that when she filed in Dec, that Baldoni would be done away with and she could go back to her life and movies and she would have mass support. That may have initially happened but the tide turned when both sides were released. People feel contentious about her and Baldoni and she should be laying low until the trial is over. You cannot accuse a man of these things and destroy his family and career then go back to your regular life like all is well.

The Seth Meyers interview was a disaster. It was just so obvious they agreed that he would ask a softball question about her “intense year” so that she could say the comment that she said and then they could move on with funny anecdotes about the movie Frozen (what a relevant reference Blake) and her kids. It was so obvious and the fact that they disabled comments and didn’t feature it on all their platforms….ouch.

This is almost a master class on how not to handle a scandal. Either her team is failing her or they are no longer listening to advice and just think they know best.

"Disaster" implies something went wrong in the interview. It didn't. The interview was normal and fine.

It is standard on a late night show like that for the host to offer softball questions to an actor or entertainer. It would be a prerequisite of the entertainer agreeing to do the show -- no one is going to show up to do Seth Myers if they think they are going to be grilled about their messy divorce, their reported conflict with a costar, or other negative story. And they do stuff like this all the time, where someone who has had negative press recently goes on SM to gently address it and then pivot to their current project. See, e.g., every appearance by John Mulaney on the program in the last few years.

The people who think it was a "disaster" are people who already hate Lively and are fully on JB's side. This is a small fraction of the viewing public but this group has an intense and rabid online presence. So they will flood the comments in any posted version of the interview. Not because the interview itself has anything of interest in it (it's completely banal, like 99% of all celeb interviews) but because it's an opportunity to attack Lively, their sworn enemy.

If the interview itself were problematic, they'd take down the videos altogether. It wouldn't be available for streaming on Peacock. Alas, the interview is not only fine, it almost certainly did it's expected job of getting people to check out Another Simple Favor this weekend, which appears to the the top streamed movie on Amazon Prime just two days after it's release.

It also enabled Lively to appear pleasant and professional in public despite all the bad press, which will probably leave a positive impression with the vast majority of viewers who are not following the court cases and don't care that much about them.

I truly do not see what the "disaster" is here. It's fine.

Another Simple Favor is #1 on prime because it has no competition. Nothing new released at the same time to rival it and it’s in the top ten with movies from a decade ago etc. It’s almost impossible for it not to debut at #1 under those circumstances. Amazon seems to have disabled the reviews on this movie but not any other movie, it has 2.5 stars on rotten tomatoes and horrible press reviews.

Reviews have been decidedly mixed. It has a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes with is not a critical darling but also not a bomb. It got good reviews from: the Times (UK), Slant, NYT, Daily Telegraph, TheWrap, RogerEbert.com, Mashable, The Guardian, IndieWire, among others. It also got some notable pans, from WaPo, AV Club, Slate, Seattle Times, the Globe and Mail. I haven't watched it yet but my impression is that it's a silly movie with great visuals in a killer location, but a thin plot and some hammy acting. The thing is -- a lot of people (including me) enjoy a movie like that from time to time. So I'm not surprised that it's gotten the reviews it has. Some people will never like a movie in that genre no matter what, others can enjoy it for what it is.

And it's not true it has no competition on Prime. I'm currently watching Etóile on Prime which is why I haven't watched Another Simple Favor. Here's the current Top 10 for Prime in the US (from FlixPatrol):

1. – Another Simple Favor 1 d
2. – Conclave 11 d
3. – The Accountant 38 d
4. +1 Gladiator II 11 d
5. +2 G20 15 d
6. -2 Reacher 252 d
7. n/a Twisters
8. -2 Étoile 8 d
9. – The Summer I Turned Pretty 26 d
10. -2 The Wheel of Time 173 d

Conclave and Gladiator II are very recent films and Conclave is especially topical, and both hit Prime within the last two weeks. G20, like Another Simple Favor, is another silly straight to streaming movie but it came out very recently and would be an obvious alternative to ASF for someone who wanted to boycott Lively. The Accountant is getting pushed hard because of the sequel coming out. Étoile came out just last weekend and probably has big overlap with the potential audience for ASF (women in their 30s and 40s looking for a pretty but engaging distraction from every day life).

So I'd say ASF is doing well. If it had bombed, there's no way it would be ranking above all of those other options. Plenty of people are choosing to watch it. Amazon's probably pretty happy, especially given what has been happening with Lively lately. I'm sure they were nervous, especially when JB supporters started tanking the movie's online rating on sites like IMDB before it even came out.

Keep in mind the level of gaslighting here the next time you read any Pro Lively posts. Quite something. I don’t know if this movie will make a decent amount of money but there is no question that it is getting widely panned by critics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally would not have done this. Her team is failing her. She can promote the film and stick to low key red carpet appearances and cast conferences like she's been doing. TV interviews are too personal. I think she really thought that when she filed in Dec, that Baldoni would be done away with and she could go back to her life and movies and she would have mass support. That may have initially happened but the tide turned when both sides were released. People feel contentious about her and Baldoni and she should be laying low until the trial is over. You cannot accuse a man of these things and destroy his family and career then go back to your regular life like all is well.

The Seth Meyers interview was a disaster. It was just so obvious they agreed that he would ask a softball question about her “intense year” so that she could say the comment that she said and then they could move on with funny anecdotes about the movie Frozen (what a relevant reference Blake) and her kids. It was so obvious and the fact that they disabled comments and didn’t feature it on all their platforms….ouch.

This is almost a master class on how not to handle a scandal. Either her team is failing her or they are no longer listening to advice and just think they know best.

"Disaster" implies something went wrong in the interview. It didn't. The interview was normal and fine.

It is standard on a late night show like that for the host to offer softball questions to an actor or entertainer. It would be a prerequisite of the entertainer agreeing to do the show -- no one is going to show up to do Seth Myers if they think they are going to be grilled about their messy divorce, their reported conflict with a costar, or other negative story. And they do stuff like this all the time, where someone who has had negative press recently goes on SM to gently address it and then pivot to their current project. See, e.g., every appearance by John Mulaney on the program in the last few years.

The people who think it was a "disaster" are people who already hate Lively and are fully on JB's side. This is a small fraction of the viewing public but this group has an intense and rabid online presence. So they will flood the comments in any posted version of the interview. Not because the interview itself has anything of interest in it (it's completely banal, like 99% of all celeb interviews) but because it's an opportunity to attack Lively, their sworn enemy.

If the interview itself were problematic, they'd take down the videos altogether. It wouldn't be available for streaming on Peacock. Alas, the interview is not only fine, it almost certainly did it's expected job of getting people to check out Another Simple Favor this weekend, which appears to the the top streamed movie on Amazon Prime just two days after it's release.

It also enabled Lively to appear pleasant and professional in public despite all the bad press, which will probably leave a positive impression with the vast majority of viewers who are not following the court cases and don't care that much about them.

I truly do not see what the "disaster" is here. It's fine.

I’d say it was a disaster if the Seth Meyer’s show felt it had to disable comments. Come on, how often does that really happen on a softball late night show interview? I agree nothing egregious happened, but in terms of getting the public on Blake side I don’t I think it helped. I also think she continues to come across really awkward in interviews. Seth does a really good job with people, but it’s clear she it’s just not able to come off as authentic. When she says things like, “I have to be Disneyland for them,” when discussing her kids, it just comes off as really disingenuous and awkward.

Blake has the misfortune of having every word and body movement scrutinized right now, but I've always genuinely found her to be a strange interviewee as someone who used to watch Gossip Girl. It's like she's supposed to be charming, but I don't find her to be. There's an awkwardness and peppiness there that I've always found unappealing but I don't know how to explain why it irks me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally would not have done this. Her team is failing her. She can promote the film and stick to low key red carpet appearances and cast conferences like she's been doing. TV interviews are too personal. I think she really thought that when she filed in Dec, that Baldoni would be done away with and she could go back to her life and movies and she would have mass support. That may have initially happened but the tide turned when both sides were released. People feel contentious about her and Baldoni and she should be laying low until the trial is over. You cannot accuse a man of these things and destroy his family and career then go back to your regular life like all is well.

The Seth Meyers interview was a disaster. It was just so obvious they agreed that he would ask a softball question about her “intense year” so that she could say the comment that she said and then they could move on with funny anecdotes about the movie Frozen (what a relevant reference Blake) and her kids. It was so obvious and the fact that they disabled comments and didn’t feature it on all their platforms….ouch.

This is almost a master class on how not to handle a scandal. Either her team is failing her or they are no longer listening to advice and just think they know best.

"Disaster" implies something went wrong in the interview. It didn't. The interview was normal and fine.

It is standard on a late night show like that for the host to offer softball questions to an actor or entertainer. It would be a prerequisite of the entertainer agreeing to do the show -- no one is going to show up to do Seth Myers if they think they are going to be grilled about their messy divorce, their reported conflict with a costar, or other negative story. And they do stuff like this all the time, where someone who has had negative press recently goes on SM to gently address it and then pivot to their current project. See, e.g., every appearance by John Mulaney on the program in the last few years.

The people who think it was a "disaster" are people who already hate Lively and are fully on JB's side. This is a small fraction of the viewing public but this group has an intense and rabid online presence. So they will flood the comments in any posted version of the interview. Not because the interview itself has anything of interest in it (it's completely banal, like 99% of all celeb interviews) but because it's an opportunity to attack Lively, their sworn enemy.

If the interview itself were problematic, they'd take down the videos altogether. It wouldn't be available for streaming on Peacock. Alas, the interview is not only fine, it almost certainly did it's expected job of getting people to check out Another Simple Favor this weekend, which appears to the the top streamed movie on Amazon Prime just two days after it's release.

It also enabled Lively to appear pleasant and professional in public despite all the bad press, which will probably leave a positive impression with the vast majority of viewers who are not following the court cases and don't care that much about them.

I truly do not see what the "disaster" is here. It's fine.

I’d say it was a disaster if the Seth Meyer’s show felt it had to disable comments. Come on, how often does that really happen on a softball late night show interview? I agree nothing egregious happened, but in terms of getting the public on Blake side I don’t I think it helped. I also think she continues to come across really awkward in interviews. Seth does a really good job with people, but it’s clear she it’s just not able to come off as authentic. When she says things like, “I have to be Disneyland for them,” when discussing her kids, it just comes off as really disingenuous and awkward.

As for a simple favor, that metric is meaningless right now - too soon to tell - but who knows, the buzz could help the movie and it probably helps that Blake is playing a villain. It’s not that hard to get number one for a little while, the success of the movie will depend on how long it stays there, and if they can create enough buzz and word-of-mouth to keep it streaming.

In the long run, I’ll be curious to see what kind of things she gets cast in in the coming years and if this impacts whether or not people want to work with her or not. I could see it going both ways. She certainly has people talking about her.

I don't think Late Night views it as a disaster to disable the comments. Why would they care? All that matters to NBC is ratings for the actual show, streaming numbers on Peacock, and streaming numbers on other platforms for clips like this. Comments are a form of "engagement" but most of the time comments are just crap like "omg I love him, he's so funny" or "Seth's sweater is weird here, I miss when he used to wear suits." They don't actually matter and no one cares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally would not have done this. Her team is failing her. She can promote the film and stick to low key red carpet appearances and cast conferences like she's been doing. TV interviews are too personal. I think she really thought that when she filed in Dec, that Baldoni would be done away with and she could go back to her life and movies and she would have mass support. That may have initially happened but the tide turned when both sides were released. People feel contentious about her and Baldoni and she should be laying low until the trial is over. You cannot accuse a man of these things and destroy his family and career then go back to your regular life like all is well.

The Seth Meyers interview was a disaster. It was just so obvious they agreed that he would ask a softball question about her “intense year” so that she could say the comment that she said and then they could move on with funny anecdotes about the movie Frozen (what a relevant reference Blake) and her kids. It was so obvious and the fact that they disabled comments and didn’t feature it on all their platforms….ouch.

This is almost a master class on how not to handle a scandal. Either her team is failing her or they are no longer listening to advice and just think they know best.

"Disaster" implies something went wrong in the interview. It didn't. The interview was normal and fine.

It is standard on a late night show like that for the host to offer softball questions to an actor or entertainer. It would be a prerequisite of the entertainer agreeing to do the show -- no one is going to show up to do Seth Myers if they think they are going to be grilled about their messy divorce, their reported conflict with a costar, or other negative story. And they do stuff like this all the time, where someone who has had negative press recently goes on SM to gently address it and then pivot to their current project. See, e.g., every appearance by John Mulaney on the program in the last few years.

The people who think it was a "disaster" are people who already hate Lively and are fully on JB's side. This is a small fraction of the viewing public but this group has an intense and rabid online presence. So they will flood the comments in any posted version of the interview. Not because the interview itself has anything of interest in it (it's completely banal, like 99% of all celeb interviews) but because it's an opportunity to attack Lively, their sworn enemy.

If the interview itself were problematic, they'd take down the videos altogether. It wouldn't be available for streaming on Peacock. Alas, the interview is not only fine, it almost certainly did it's expected job of getting people to check out Another Simple Favor this weekend, which appears to the the top streamed movie on Amazon Prime just two days after it's release.

It also enabled Lively to appear pleasant and professional in public despite all the bad press, which will probably leave a positive impression with the vast majority of viewers who are not following the court cases and don't care that much about them.

I truly do not see what the "disaster" is here. It's fine.

Another Simple Favor is #1 on prime because it has no competition. Nothing new released at the same time to rival it and it’s in the top ten with movies from a decade ago etc. It’s almost impossible for it not to debut at #1 under those circumstances. Amazon seems to have disabled the reviews on this movie but not any other movie, it has 2.5 stars on rotten tomatoes and horrible press reviews.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally would not have done this. Her team is failing her. She can promote the film and stick to low key red carpet appearances and cast conferences like she's been doing. TV interviews are too personal. I think she really thought that when she filed in Dec, that Baldoni would be done away with and she could go back to her life and movies and she would have mass support. That may have initially happened but the tide turned when both sides were released. People feel contentious about her and Baldoni and she should be laying low until the trial is over. You cannot accuse a man of these things and destroy his family and career then go back to your regular life like all is well.

The Seth Meyers interview was a disaster. It was just so obvious they agreed that he would ask a softball question about her “intense year” so that she could say the comment that she said and then they could move on with funny anecdotes about the movie Frozen (what a relevant reference Blake) and her kids. It was so obvious and the fact that they disabled comments and didn’t feature it on all their platforms….ouch.

This is almost a master class on how not to handle a scandal. Either her team is failing her or they are no longer listening to advice and just think they know best.

"Disaster" implies something went wrong in the interview. It didn't. The interview was normal and fine.

It is standard on a late night show like that for the host to offer softball questions to an actor or entertainer. It would be a prerequisite of the entertainer agreeing to do the show -- no one is going to show up to do Seth Myers if they think they are going to be grilled about their messy divorce, their reported conflict with a costar, or other negative story. And they do stuff like this all the time, where someone who has had negative press recently goes on SM to gently address it and then pivot to their current project. See, e.g., every appearance by John Mulaney on the program in the last few years.

The people who think it was a "disaster" are people who already hate Lively and are fully on JB's side. This is a small fraction of the viewing public but this group has an intense and rabid online presence. So they will flood the comments in any posted version of the interview. Not because the interview itself has anything of interest in it (it's completely banal, like 99% of all celeb interviews) but because it's an opportunity to attack Lively, their sworn enemy.

If the interview itself were problematic, they'd take down the videos altogether. It wouldn't be available for streaming on Peacock. Alas, the interview is not only fine, it almost certainly did it's expected job of getting people to check out Another Simple Favor this weekend, which appears to the the top streamed movie on Amazon Prime just two days after it's release.

It also enabled Lively to appear pleasant and professional in public despite all the bad press, which will probably leave a positive impression with the vast majority of viewers who are not following the court cases and don't care that much about them.

I truly do not see what the "disaster" is here. It's fine.

Another Simple Favor is #1 on prime because it has no competition. Nothing new released at the same time to rival it and it’s in the top ten with movies from a decade ago etc. It’s almost impossible for it not to debut at #1 under those circumstances. Amazon seems to have disabled the reviews on this movie but not any other movie, it has 2.5 stars on rotten tomatoes and horrible press reviews.

Reviews have been decidedly mixed. It has a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes with is not a critical darling but also not a bomb. It got good reviews from: the Times (UK), Slant, NYT, Daily Telegraph, TheWrap, RogerEbert.com, Mashable, The Guardian, IndieWire, among others. It also got some notable pans, from WaPo, AV Club, Slate, Seattle Times, the Globe and Mail. I haven't watched it yet but my impression is that it's a silly movie with great visuals in a killer location, but a thin plot and some hammy acting. The thing is -- a lot of people (including me) enjoy a movie like that from time to time. So I'm not surprised that it's gotten the reviews it has. Some people will never like a movie in that genre no matter what, others can enjoy it for what it is.

And it's not true it has no competition on Prime. I'm currently watching Etóile on Prime which is why I haven't watched Another Simple Favor. Here's the current Top 10 for Prime in the US (from FlixPatrol):

1. – Another Simple Favor 1 d
2. – Conclave 11 d
3. – The Accountant 38 d
4. +1 Gladiator II 11 d
5. +2 G20 15 d
6. -2 Reacher 252 d
7. n/a Twisters
8. -2 Étoile 8 d
9. – The Summer I Turned Pretty 26 d
10. -2 The Wheel of Time 173 d

Conclave and Gladiator II are very recent films and Conclave is especially topical, and both hit Prime within the last two weeks. G20, like Another Simple Favor, is another silly straight to streaming movie but it came out very recently and would be an obvious alternative to ASF for someone who wanted to boycott Lively. The Accountant is getting pushed hard because of the sequel coming out. Étoile came out just last weekend and probably has big overlap with the potential audience for ASF (women in their 30s and 40s looking for a pretty but engaging distraction from every day life).

So I'd say ASF is doing well. If it had bombed, there's no way it would be ranking above all of those other options. Plenty of people are choosing to watch it. Amazon's probably pretty happy, especially given what has been happening with Lively lately. I'm sure they were nervous, especially when JB supporters started tanking the movie's online rating on sites like IMDB before it even came out.

Keep in mind the level of gaslighting here the next time you read any Pro Lively posts. Quite something. I don’t know if this movie will make a decent amount of money but there is no question that it is getting widely panned by critics.

1) It's a straight to streaming movie, there's no box office. It cannot "make money." Amazon paid to make it because they felt it would help drive eyeballs to their platform, given that it's #1 the weekend of its release, that appears to be a solid investment. I won't pretend to understand the economics of streamers, but I'd guess that Amazon is about as happy with the results here as they could be based on what they wanted to get out of it.

2) Factually, the movie's reviews are mixed. It has been panned by some but also gotten a bunch of good reviews from top outlets. That's about what you'd expect for a straight-to-streaming movie that is a sequel and has a pretty thin, stupid premise.

[Anonymous]

All right, pro-Baldonis, you can pack it up. According to the pro-Lively poster here, Blake and Ryan are having the absolute time of their lives.

Taylor loves protecting her dragons, so there's no reason to believe there's a rift between them. Another Simple Favor was the #1 release in a non-competitive weekend, and is a wonderful investment paying off for Amazon, so Blake can expect even more offers to come in soon. Blake should be proud about her Late Night appearance, comments getting shut off be damned, because it's driving engagement and views and that's all that matters. She made the list of Time 100's Most Influential, and despite the backlash that elicited, everyone knows that list is for PR anyone, so she got a nice little boost in the media.

Incredible, love that for them.

[Anonymous]

I feel like it's the opposite. The Baldonis want to paint everything as an unmitigated disaster and declare BL is over, which prompts the Livelys to defend it. The movie wasn't a smash hit and the Seth Myers interview wasn't a smash success, but both are and were fine. Missing a birthday party to go to a soccer game that's relevant to Reynolds' portfolio is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like it's the opposite. The Baldonis want to paint everything as an unmitigated disaster and declare BL is over, which prompts the Livelys to defend it. The movie wasn't a smash hit and the Seth Myers interview wasn't a smash success, but both are and were fine. Missing a birthday party to go to a soccer game that's relevant to Reynolds' portfolio is fine.

Both sides go to extremes.