“Emily The Criminal” Movie Review by Rafy Mediavilla (@Rmediavilla). #EmilyTheCriminal
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 interviews, Emily soon finds herself seduced by the quick cash and illicit thrills of black-market capitalism, and increasingly interested in her mentor Youcef. Together, they hatch a plan to bring their business to the next level in Los Angeles.
“Emily The Criminal” was one of the hidden gems to come out from the Sundance Film Festival this year. And while story wise it’s fairly simple and straightforward it’s really hard to believe that this is a work of fiction while the story feels all too real. the social commentary within the story it’s really present as they deal with everything from dealing with student debt and trying to find jobs with a criminal record.
The first thing that caught my eye from the movie was the story and how when I end up seeing the movie I had to do my research because I felt as if this movie was based on a true story. Everything Emily is going through is something I know a lot of people will relate to even as difficult and tough and maybe we may not agree with her actions but by the end of the movie we have to understand where she’s coming from.
There are two things that shine bright in this movie. First is the social commentary we already talked about that, second is Aubrey Plaza performance. With this movie Plaza has cemented herself as someone that can do it all. She can do comedy she can do drama she can do action, and “Emily The Criminal” it’s just another perfect example of her acting chops, in arguably one of her best performance yet.
With a 90 minutes runtime “Emily The Criminal” gets the job done. While as fictional as the story is the movie keeps you entertained what are the same time raising awareness of what our current financial situation is for many whether we like it or not. And that is reason enough to make this a see movie.
