The Favor

R

1994

1 hr. 37 min.

Romance

Comedy

List

27%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

21%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Best friends Kathy (Harley Jane Kozak) and Emily (Elizabeth McGovern) are having disparate relationship troubles. Kathy is growing bored with her comfortable married life with husband Peter (Bill Pullman) while Emily is tired of her unstable arrangement with drifter artist Elliott (Brad Pitt). When Kathy hears her old flame Tom (Ken Wahl) will be attending their high school reunion, she asks Emily to seduce him and see what she's missing out on. Predictably, this leads to a mess of new problems.

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Farah R

I only watched this movie for 90s Brad Pitt and sometimes questioned if it was worth it. The Favor is a terrible rom-com devoid of both romance and comedy.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

05/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I really enjoyed the favor. It is a pretty good film. The acting is brilliant from Harley Jane Kozak, Bill Pullman and Brad Pitt. I mainly wanted to see it for Bill Pullman because I am a big fan of him. He's a really great actor and he does a really good job at his acting. I am also a fan of Brad Pitt. And I became a fan of Harley Jane Kozak. She's really beautiful. It's got a wonderful story and the movie has a perfect mix of funny and dramatic moments. I definitely recommend the favor. I really love the movie. I know it's a very overrated movie but I personally think it's pretty underrated.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

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Audience Member

Slow, and wastes its charismatic cast.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

09/08/19

Full Review

Audience Member

I really love the favor. I enjoyed it from the first time I watched it last year. It is such a pretty good film. I don't think it's a horrible movie. It's actually pretty good and pretty decent. I don't let the bad news get to me when people consider this movie to be bad. This is what people think about "even if you heard bad things about certain films still give them a chance." I think this movie should be seen by more people. To me I think this is a pretty underrated movie. Give the favor a chance. It's got a good story and great acting throughout. I am a big fan of Bill Pullman. He does a great job. And Harley Jane Kozak is great in the movie as well. She is so beautiful. Brad Pitt is also good in the character he plays. This is actually the first movie I saw Harley Jane Kozak in so I did not know who she was when I watched the movie. I did not know who Elizabeth McGovern, Harley Jane Kozak and Ken Wahl were. The favor was my introduction to those 3 different people. The only cast I knew who was in it was Bill Pullman and Brad Pitt. A couple reasons why I picked up the movie was because Bill Pullman and Brad Pitt are in it and the film looked interesting. It's very much a romantic dramedy. This movie really gets so much hate. I do not hate it. It's a good movie in my own personal opinion. I definitely recommend it.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Housewife Harley Jane Kozak lives vicariously through her single friend Elizabeth McGovern's wild single life and fantasizes that wants to step out herself with one of McGovern's men, either Brad Pitt or Ken Wahl. All the while, McGovern covets Kozak's family life and wants a child of her own. As a comedy, it's not that funny and as a drama it's not very dramatic. The film really needed to go one direction or the other rather than unsuccessfully trying to do both at the same time. The drama doesn't work at all, but there are glimpses of a comedy that might have worked involving husband Bill Pullman getting suspicious when a colleague, the great Larry Miller, plants seeds of doubt in Pullman has his wife is cheating on him. Overall, it's a pretty weak film. I think I only watched it because I've always liked Elizabeth McGovern and it's one of the few 80s/90s comedies I never watched during my video store clerk days. Probably only worth watching for Larry Miller (or maybe Ken Wahl's mullet).

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Good, light entertainment that felt very 80's. It's a shame Harley Jane Kozak didn't have more of a career because she's a cutie. Any movie that plays BAD gets bonus points.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

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Donald Petrie

Director

Harley Jane Kozak

Kathy Whiting

Elizabeth McGovern

Emily Embrey

Bill Pullman

Peter Whiting

Brad Pitt

Elliott Fowler

Ken Wahl

Tom Andrews

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Slant Magazine

Rated: 2/4

May 2, 2008

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

The ending of the film is appalling.

Rated: 2/4

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Rated: 2.5/4

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Eric D. Snider

EricDSnider.com

Rated: B

Jun 24, 2006

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Chuck O'Leary

Fantastica Daily

Rated: 2/5

Sep 21, 2005

Full Review

Edward Havens

FilmJerk.com

I remember seeing this when first released, and I remember not liking it, but I no longer remember the film at all.

Rated: 1/5

Aug 28, 2003

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Synopsis

Best friends Kathy (Harley Jane Kozak) and Emily (Elizabeth McGovern) are having disparate relationship troubles. Kathy is growing bored with her comfortable married life with husband Peter (Bill Pullman) while Emily is tired of her unstable arrangement with drifter artist Elliott (Brad Pitt). When Kathy hears her old flame Tom (Ken Wahl) will be attending their high school reunion, she asks Emily to seduce him and see what she's missing out on. Predictably, this leads to a mess of new problems.

Director: Donald Petrie
Executive Producer: Donna Dubrow, Rick Finkelstein
Screenwriter: Sara Parriott, Josann McGibbon
Production Co: Nelson Entertainment
Rating: R
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): May 22, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.6M
Sound Mix: Stereo, Surround

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