X
- 2022
- R
- Roadside Attractions
- 1 h 37 m
- 2022
- R
- Roadside Attractions
- 1 h 37 m
Summary Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig as a “dummy shopper,” buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a handsome and charismatic middleman named Youcef (Theo Rossi). Faced with a series of dead-end job intervie...
Directed By: John Patton Ford
Written By: John Patton Ford
- 2022
- R
- Roadside Attractions
- 1 h 37 m
- 2022
- R
- Roadside Attractions
- 1 h 37 m
Emily the Criminal
75
6.7
Where to Watch
Summary Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig as a “dummy shopper,” buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a handsome and charismatic middleman named Youcef (Theo Rossi). Faced with a series of dead-end job intervie...
Directed By: John Patton Ford
Written By: John Patton Ford
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 38 Critic Reviews
75
84% Positive
32 Reviews
32 Reviews
16% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 38 Critic Reviews
75
84% Positive
32 Reviews
32 Reviews
16% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
This is John Patton Ford's directorial debut, and it is an extremely impressive piece of work.
Ford isn’t interested in a slick, high-speed thriller, and the action in Emily the Criminal feels grounded in reality. Plaza, whose dramatic presence is as compelling as her comedic skill, imbues the character with genuine vulnerability alongside her grit.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 101 User Ratings
6.7
66% Positive
67 Ratings
67 Ratings
28% Mixed
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
6% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 101 User Ratings
6.7
66% Positive
67 Ratings
67 Ratings
28% Mixed
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
6% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
I was looking forward to this and it did not disappoint. Yes, I love Aubrey Plaza. Who doesn't? But boy does she pull out all the guns in this movie. Obviously, she's incredibly sexy, but she just oozes sex and danger in this flick. She is at the top of her game, and I enjoyed it on every level. The plot isn't super complex, which is refreshing, and as it escalates, it never goes over the top into action/adventure, but stays grounded in reality. A great heist flick, that simmers, but never quite boils, and I mean that in a good way. I believe this movie. I can see this happening across the country.
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Ford imbues his story with a tense, vibrating energy, moving briskly between the breathlessness of a heist thriller and the sharper barbs of social satire.
Plaza, who follows up Black Bear with another darker turn, is great in a role that lets her badass side out for a rampage.
Ford’s film cannot be entirely discounted – the director knows a star when he sees one, and seems to retroactively contort his screenplay around the talents of Plaza as much as he can. The actress makes Emily’s plight seem relatable, unrelenting and never ever precious.
The film may not suffer from didacticism, but it’s at its most volcanic when it promises to blossom into a study of a generation’s financial difficulties.
Despite the fact that the camera rarely backs away from studying Plaza’s wary eyes and tense mouth in close-up, this character piece feels as distanced from its taciturn subject as if it was merely monitoring her on security camera.
Great screenwriting & direction. Great performance from Aubrey Plaza. She makes unlikeable at least sympathetic. Like a great roller coaster ride, this mmovie is over before you know it. The ending is really the only thing I can say is up for debate, but Emily the Criminal is the best movie of 2022, right up there with Nope.
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It was interesting to see a change of turn for Aubrey Plaza, who was basically only getting roles as an unsympathetic stuck-up girl, which had typecast her, yet she finally proves she can do other things.
And while she's a more than competent lead, I have to say the context itself is very weak.
I understand the narrative is focused on her, that she is a young artist with very different ambitions than the rest of the people doing the same as her to survive in this story, and yet any attempt to critique the capitalist model that has her in her situation - indebted and unable to get a better paying job - is totally relegated to just being the catalyst for her circumstances and motivations, but nothing more.
Even when we do get to explore some of Theo Rossi's character, he and his motivations are sacrificed in order for Emily to have a closure.
Emily the Criminal is an entertaining experience, but also a very basic one.
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Emily the criminal é um filme apenas correto sobre uma mulher que passa dificuldades financeiras e aceita uma proposta ilegal para ganhar dinheiro: passar cartões roubados em loja e entregar o produto para seus gerenciadores.
Estrelado por Aubrey Plaza, o filme tem uma pegada muito correta, nas horas em que Emily se envolve em problemas, o suspense toma conta, e nas horas em que o cotidiano sofrido precisa ser mostrado, o drama invade a tela, de forma natural e orgânica.
Claro que, devido à personalidade forte de Emily, o filme vai evoluindo junto com ela, aos poucos ela vai compreendendo o negócio e se envolvendo com os mandantes.
A grande questão aqui, para além do empoderamento feminino, é perceber que estratégias de sobrevivência estão postas, mas não apenas, já que o capitalismo seduz por sempre querermos mais. E ao tornar-se uma mulher que atua clandestinamente, ela também recebe o ônus do gênero, como cantadas ou suspeitas de sua eficiência.
Aí o filme vai passando na sua tela e você nem se dá conta até seu término. Não há absolutamente nada de inovador, é apenas uma história bem contada, de forma até digna, mas sem um ar se surpresa ou algo a mais que se justifique maior aclamação.
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Boring, lifeless story, characters are boring. Got half way through and was bored out of my mind
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bad
[ bad ]
adjective, worse, worst;(Slang) bad·der, bad·dest for 36.
not good in any manner or degree.
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Production Company
Low Spark Films
Release Date Aug 12, 2022
Duration 1 h 37 m
Rating R
Awards
Film Independent Spirit Awards
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Annapolis Film Festival
• 3 Wins & 3 Nominations
Indiana Film Journalists Association, US
• 3 Nominations
