Emily The Criminal Review: Aubrey Plaza Does Stunning Work In Intense Thriller [Sundance]
Aubrey Plaza has become one of Hollywood’s most dynamic actresses, taking on roles that have offered something creatively satisfying and different in each one. In Emily the Criminal, Plaza gives all she’s got to play a gritty, desperate character with a criminal past. Elevated by an incredible, layered performance, writer-director John Patton Ford’s debut feature is a show-stopping, intense thriller with depth.
Emily the Criminal opens with the titular character (Plaza) in an interview for an office job and it isn’t long before the employer asks about her criminal record — a DUI and an assault in 2016. Emily, however, can’t get past the fact that the employer lied about not having done a background check. Frustrated, she leaves, having wanted the job to pay off her $70k in student debt for an art degree she never received. It’s a scene that does a lot to set up the rest of the film and to understand Emily’s motivations. Emily works at a catering job, but when her coworker tips her off about a job that would pay her $200 an hour, she’s interested enough to find out more. Emily ultimately finds herself in the middle of a credit card scam operation run by Youcef (an excellent Theo Rossi). While Emily has trepidations about doing something illegal considering her past record, she goes all in for the money.
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Emily the Criminal is deftly handled, with the film including incendiary commentary on a capitalist society that is not at all kind to anyone who is struggling financially and who have a criminal past employers aren't soon to forget. Emily works hard as a contract caterer, but that's barely enough to make a dent in a student loan
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