Emily the Criminal Review proves Aubrey Plaza right in a terrific crime drama

This review was originally posted in connection with Emily the criminal‘s theatrical release. It has been updated and re-released for the film’s release on VOD platforms and Netflix.

In the America of 2022, despair is the norm. Wealth inequality is worse than ever and wages are not keeping pace with inflation. So if you don’t come from money, you’re screwed. The average millennial owes $28,317, and most of them have been hiking up a mountain of sand their entire professional lives. Corporations don’t pay taxes, and neither do the rich. So what’s the big deal if the rest of us bend the rules a little?

This tantalizing question is at the heart of the thriller Emily the criminal, the debut film from writer-director John Patton Ford. Set in gritty, street-legal Los Angeles where celebrities try not to look out of their limousine windows, the film maintains much of its authenticity through its nuanced portrayal of the web of inequality, institutional obstacles, and just raw deals that include the protagonist. The rest comes from Aubrey Plaza’s lead, who transitions from marked and defeated to wild and relentless as her character descends into the criminal underworld.

It’s not like she’s a role model. Emily (Plaza) is better off than some: She has a car and a relatively stable living situation, barring annoying roommates. In other ways, she’s at a disadvantage and has very little hope that her busy, frustrating life will ever get any better. She’s drowning in $70,000 in student debt and the payments she diligently makes barely cover her monthly interest. To make those payments, she works long shifts, hauling lunches for a delivery app, hauling giant insulated bags of salad and pasta to feed employees who look at her with contempt and disgust — if they look at her at all.

She would get a better job, like her wealthy advertising agency friend Liz (Megalyn Echikunwoke), but a previous DUI and aggravated assault charges haunt and hold her back. That was a long time ago, but it doesn’t seem to matter; In the film’s flashy opening scene, the camera lingers on Plaza’s face during a job interview, and her anger seethes when a smug hiring manager catches her lying about the red flag at her background check.

Does Emily’s short-tempered temper and her decision to go to art school rather than earn an accounting degree mean she deserves to slave away in financial servitude for the rest of her life? She doesn’t think so. Her colleague Javier (Bernardo Badillo) seems to feel sorry for her and texts Emily a number for a job where she can make $200 an hour, no questions asked. This “job” ends in a credit card scam, with Emily acting as a bogus shopper, using stolen card numbers to buy expensive consumer goods that Youcef (Theo Rossi), the operation’s unofficial ringleader, is later able to fence for profit.

Once she overcomes her fear of being caught, Emily proves proficient at dealing with credit card fraud. And after getting paid $2,000 for an exhilarating caper when buying a sports car with a fake card, she makes up her mind This So she will escape the cycle she is stuck in and finally move forward in this world. Her sexual tension with Youcef, who goes so far as to invite Emily to a family dinner to meet his mother, adds another layer of excitement to her new life. And as she grows big enough to draw the attention of other, less benign thugs, she finds that she also has a talent for violence.

Ford’s color palette for this film – an industrial mix of reddish gray and navy blue reminiscent of glass-clad skyscrapers on a cloudy day – is reminiscent of Michael Mann’s classic crime thriller heat. And the amoral Emily would fit right into Mann’s list of die-hard professionals. Like James Caan in Thief, she is good at what she does. But unlike Caan’s disaffected safecracker, her criminal career is just beginning and the rush to recognize her does Having what it takes is both exciting and affirming for a character who previously felt life had nothing to offer her but drudgery and debt. The difference here is that Michael Mann has never written such a juicy role for a woman.

Plaza also appeared as a producer emily the criminal, and the film is the latest in a string of projects that have seen her prove her acting skills go far beyond eye rolls and sarcastic comments. (She is also excellent in the 2020 horror drama black bear.) As a thriller, Emily the criminal is well-written and compelling, but it’s Plaza’s fearless work that makes it unforgettable. She has a knack for playing volatile characters in a way that’s both likable and a little scary, and that balance is just what it takes to make Emily a thought-provoking everywoman for a debt-ridden age, rather than a simple cautionary tale.

Emily the criminal is now streaming on Netflix and available for digital rentals Amazon, vuduand other platforms.