Directed By John Patton Ford

Starring – Aubrey Plaza, Theo Rossi, Bernardo Badillo

The Plot – Emily (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 (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.

Rated R for adult language, some violence and brief drug use.

Emily The Criminal | Official Trailer | In Theaters August 12 – YouTube

POSITIVES

Very few films offer an insightful glimpse into a broken American business model, especially one that conveys why so many convicted criminals return to a life of crime as their only means to finally get ahead, but first-time director and writer Ford instills a fearless approach to his depiction that bottles as much unapologetic honesty and ruthlessness as one can endure from beyond the screen of safety. He does this not only within the sharpness of his pen, sifting through a compelling character study in the life of a woman who continuously has the deck stacked against her, but also in the urgency and vulnerability of his thorough direction, which immerses us into the engagement of Emily’s various cons, with the kind of anxiousness and exhilaration of this going wrong at any second. Sometimes it does, which in turn pays wonderfully towards the film’s unpredictability, but beyond that supplants a thought-provoking examination that depicts these characters as the humans they are instead of the criminals that they’re continuously established as. By doing this, we’re treated to a duo of commanding performances, especially from Plaza, who once more ventures to uncomfortable places to elicit a compelling character who we might not admire, but one we can never take our eyes off of. Most of this stems from Plaza’s emotional range, commanding so much fiery rage and intensity in just a single look, but the understated appreciation comes more from the subtleties in transformation in everything from accent and tone inflection to allow her to lose herself in the role. It’s easily her best performance to date, and one she shares with the always mesmerizingly charming Theo Rossi to solidify an impeccable chemistry that serves the evolution of their relationship exceptionally, all the while allowing the film to depict them as anything other than the villains that society and their career elective has saddled them as. Aside from this, the film’s gritty and occasionally claustrophobic cinematography from Jeff Bierman plays all the more coherently into the occasionally devastating circumstances of the titular character, fleshing out the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles in its path in ways that never feel forced or heavy-handed. Because of such, the film’s presentation, at times, feels like a documentary, with a lack of influential lighting to saturate its cause, and a compositional consistency in frames and angles that flows as seamlessly and organically as the spontaneity in the actions of its characters.

NEGATIVES

While the mounting stakes that build terrifically during the movie’s introductory first act did surmise an inescapable atmospheric tension pulling me in immediately to the mayhem of the film’s plot, the inconsistency of some perplexing directions during the film’s second act made for a less compelling experience all around. During this period, the film deviates its characters from their life of daily crime to show them basking in the glow of a successful life. There’s personally nothing wrong with that intention for the film, as it presents a therapeutic contrast to the uphill climbs they’re consistently treading, but with the length of time they donate towards the intention, I felt it shied away for a bit too long and took away a considerable amount of garnering momentum that drove the narrative, instead deducing it to a mediocre crime thriller with all of the familiar beats. Aside from this, the film’s storytelling feels periodically constricted in its 88-minute run time, both in fleshing out the details of the many schemes, but also in the consistency of the pacing, which revels in some scenes for too long and others too briefly. This is especially the case for Emily’s newfound knowledge once she becomes aligned with Youcef, with a good old-fashioned montage filling in the gaps for what we’re never privileged enough to coherently interpret on our own, yet one that is contradicted with a few scenes between them growing closer for the sake of a strange blossoming romance at surface level. With another twenty minutes, some of these arcs, as well as mentioned-but-rarely-depicted supporting characters could surface into something circumstantial to the narrative, and for Ford attain a writing merit that is equally on par with the amplified measures of his thoroughly riveting direction.

OVERALL
“Emily the Criminal” stole the show at this year’s Sundance Film Festival with a thought-provoking dissection of American capitalism, and while its heist is earned in the exceptional efforts of Plaza and remarkable debut direction from Ford, its complete grasp on the pursuit is sauntered with strange second act pacing and plotting that waste away too much of the first act’s meaningful momentum, leaving it, like its protagonist, another case of what might have been with the right intentions.

My Grade: 7/10 or B