Emily The Criminal is a heart-pounding thriller with high stakes and edge of your seat intensity. Aubrey Plaza & Theo Rossi have fantastic chemistry, but it is Plaza that steals the show.
Emily The Criminal is an intense thriller that will have most viewers on the edge of their seats, especially towards the end of the film. It hits a lot of heist thriller tropes, but Aubrey Plaza is so good in the lead role that all of them can be forgiven. This movie is very much here to showcase her abilities and her star power. She plays opposite Theo Rossi, and the two of them have incredible chemistry.
This movie follows Emily (Plaza) as she struggles to try to make ends meet. She has tens of thousands of dollars worth of student debt and is having a hard time finding a job due to a criminal record for a minor felony. When a super shady gig falls into her lap, she doesn’t know much about it, but figures she has no choice.
The gig is called a dummy shopper, in which she purchases expensive goods with stolen credit card information. She does a good job and is offered to come back and do more work for Youcef (Rossi). After not long the two have an unlikely bond, and she goes further and further into the business. The two of them spark up a relationship, which adds to the drama and tension of the movie.
Emily The Criminal displays Plaza’s incredible talents as she becomes a hardened, badass, and confident criminal. She might not make all the best choices at first, which is very frustrating to watch, but she leans quickly. Plaza delivers some of her best scenes ever in this movie. There are moments where she is absolutely terrifying. Her character evolves through the course of the movie to become someone who is almost unrecognizable from the Emily at the start of it all.
The score and cinematography choices perfectly heightens the already intense moments that take the audience on quite the journey. Emily gets rougher and tougher, and it is captivating to watch it all unfold. That said, this movie does feel a bit longer than it is due to some pacing issues towards to start, but it isn’t something that ruins the movie in the slightest, just something to note.
The ending is something that I did not see coming, but I am so happy that Emily The Criminal ended this way. It is a powerful and chilling moment, and completely unexpected.
This movie is packed with car chases, heists, hard crimes, bloody fights, bad words, and a whole lot of violence. It is a high octane thriller and for those who enjoy this kind of movie, Emily The Criminal will be among the favorites of the year.
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Rating: 3.5 out of 5
About Emily The Criminal
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 middleman named Youcef (Theo Rossi).
Faced with a series of dead-end job interviews, Emily soon finds herself seduced not only by the quick cash and illicit thrills of black market capitalism, but also by her ardent mentor Youcef.
Emily The Criminal played at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. On Camera personality and TV / Film Critic with 10+ years of experience in video editing, writing, editing, moderating, and hosting.