Emily the Criminal

Emily the Criminal

Emily, who is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record, gets involved in a credit card scam that pulls her into the criminal underworld of Los Angeles, ultimately leading to deadly consequences.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Genre: Crime, Drama, Thrillers
  • Stars: Aubrey Plaza, Theo Rossi, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Gina Gershon, Jonathan Avigdori, Bernardo Badillo, Craig Stark, Brandon Sklenar
  • Director: John Patton Ford
 Comments
  • ethanbresnett - 11 April 2024
    A solid crime thriller that maybe just needed a few extra elements
    Emily the Criminal has lots of great elements.

    Firstly there's the brilliant central performance from Aubrey Plaza, an actress who needs to be on our screens much more than she is. She creates a character that you completely understand and sympathise with and she draws you into her character arc.

    Then there's the plot which is well executed, if lacking in a little depth. I'm almost sat on the fence a bit as I think the compact nature of this story is quite refreshing, but there was also potential to dig through so many more layers.

    The lack of complex plotting gives the story a good momentum which is again very welcome. It gets straight to the point and doesn't really faff around with any of it's themes or characters.

    So ultimately there is a lot to enjoy with this film, but it maybe just needed more of this good stuff. Perhaps an extra 10-15 minutes to give it an extra spark or an extra twist to proceedings. An extra character or two. I don't know. Even without this missing piece, it is still a solid and gripping crime drama / thriller.
  • ikata-49417 - 18 March 2024
    slow and bouncy
    I like Aubrey Plaza and her performance started out interesting. I would have liked to watch longer, but the pacing and the camera work for this movie made it unwatchable. I do not understand why most modern movies are so damn slow. Are people just too stupid to figure out what's going on without dragging out scenes to the point of absurd? It's not necessary to show characters doing mundane tasks for extended periods. If it's important for the plot, setting or character then do it clearly and move on. There's no need to linger linger linger linger linger. See how boring it is to read the same word over and over for no reason? Also, whether it was intentional or not, the camera was bouncing too much. Whoever directed this movie (I can't be bothered to look it up) is incompetent, so obviously they work in the modern "entertainment" industry because it is filled with incompetent buffoons. It's sad that a talented actress has to work on lame projects. I think I'll watch Safety Not Guaranteed again. That was a good movie.
  • dmcknapp - 7 December 2023
    Like being part of the heist yourself
    How often do you stop watching a crime flick because you're afraid the criminal will get caught? That's what happened to me here. Aubrey Plaza's performance In this low-key thriller is beyond praise: she makes every twist in the plot seem not only plausible, but inevitable. Ten minutes into the film, you're so invested in her you absolutely believe she can throw a 200-lb guy on his ass.

    There she is, a broke college dropout in a dead-end job, when a coworker gives her a tip on a chance to pick up some quick change. Half an hour of safe and harmless larceny for $200, what's not to like? Watch and find out.
  • pmtelefon - 8 January 2023
    Well played by all
    "Emily the Criminal" is a tight little thriller. It tells its story a nice, straightforward way. There are a lot of tense moments in this movie. The cast does a nice job all the way around. The standout being, of course, Aubrey Plaza. Plaza gives one of her best performances in this movie. They tried to tone down Plaza's dreaminess but that's an impossible task. "Emily the Criminal" takes a few turns I did not see coming. It all wraps up in a very satisfying way. I'll be watching this one again. (Now I have ramble on a little while long because of IMDB's 600 character minimum. So, how was your day?)
  • rmmil - 31 December 2022
    LOL Student loans aren't THAT serious
    I couldn't get into this film because the fundamental premise is flawed and hilariously overblown.

    Emily is willing to commit a series of increasingly brutal crimes and eventually flees her native country because of...student loans? Come on!

    Obviously the screenwriter has never actually had student loan debt before because if they ever did they would know that if you are poor you can endlessly defer those loans.

    My spouse graduated in 2013 and hasn't paid a single cent in student loans thru deferrals. Yes, debt is a horrible thing that hangs over your head and can ruin your life, but student loan debt isn't one of those things.

    IRL Emily would be living in her parent's loft above the garage, not running from the law. Laughable.
  • chucksteel - 25 December 2022
    Emily makes for a fascinating criminal
    Emily the Criminal offers another clue as to why I'm becoming even more a fan of Aubrey Plaza. This is a very interesting and entertaining take on what seems like a realistic crime scenario. I was completely unaware that credit card fraud could be used in this manner, but now I believe I have been educated.

    One thing the movie gets right is it doesn't play on the audience's emotions. We might want a certain outcome, but instead it progresses towards a satisfying conclusion that's more realistic than some mere cliched happy ending.

    The movie has one flaw, it's not long enough. I would have watched with fascination for more than 2 hours as this crime scenario gradually played out.
  • gracezeng - 16 December 2022
    Review Excerpts
    Plaza is a wild card. She takes risks. Her deadpan delivery can be hilarious, but it can also be unsettling. She shifts it depending on the story's context. Her performances in "Ingrid Goes West" and "Black Bear" show her willingness to travel in some very dark waters, as well as her openness to playing "unlikeable" or at least "difficult" characters. Like Kristen Wiig, Plaza has carved out her own space in which to operate. She doesn't seem beholden to the industry and its demands as other more mainstream actresses do. She feels free enough to produce something like "Emily the Criminal," devoting herself to a first-time director. This speaks to her belief in the project, and also what she is interested in as an actress. This is not ingratiating material, and she is not "ingratiating" in it.

    -- Sheila O'Malley, Roger Ebert

    With almost documentarylike impassivity, Ford and his cinematographer, Jeff Bierman, scrutinize Emily with neither sympathy nor censure, her close-ups flickering equally between anxiety and resolve. And by situating the character among many drawn by desperation to scams like this, "Emily the Criminal" plays less like a lecture on the evils of capitalism than a darkly demented workplace drama, a cry of outrage from those forced to choose between legal enslavement and illegally obtained freedom.

    -- Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times

    It's a genre movie with its feet firmly on the ground, small in scale and tight in focus ... If Ford doesn't quite stick the landing - a late-stage backstory reveal is pretty limp, the final scene a little underwhelming - the journey there is more than worth it, an on-form Plaza drawing us close even when he briefly loosens his grip.

    Benjamin Lee, The Guardian.
  • reubent-71726 - 14 December 2022
    Well organized crime
    Emily is a working class lady who doesn't seem to be in the most ideal situation. She doesn't have a professional career, shares an apartment with roommates, and needs to find a way to pay her student loans. Then through a co-worker, she gets introduced to a way to make quick money. This leads to Emily being introduced to the world of credit card fraud. Now I don't know how accurate this movie is, but this criminal organization was very well organized. Youcef is the one running the operation and he seems to have a good heart just put in the wrong situation. Emily and Youcef start to get into a relationship, and then the operation starts to fall apart. There are rules in the criminal world (surprisingly) and she broke them, causing mistrust and deception within the organization itself. This movie does a good job of humanizing criminals and putting a better understanding of why people would enter those kinds of situations, but unfortunately it doesn't focus on the victims, the people that had their credit card information stolen and used. In the end, yes they are criminals, but Emily and Youcef aren't bad people.
  • Vince_D - 12 December 2022
    Nightcrawler - Female Edition
    If you've seen Nightcrawler (2014) you've seen this movie, it hits the same exact beats and even ends exactly the same way. Once I realized it was essentially the same film, the entire plot became predictable.

    Regardless, it's a well made film, with good acting and great social commentary.

    Aubrey Plaza is phenomenal in it, It's worth watching just for her performance. She really nails the down-on-her-luck millennial drowning in student loans with no good career prospects.

    There was one "sort-of" plot twist involving her backstory that calls into question her motivations in the film, but I think its going to go over most peoples heads.

    Pretty good flick 7 out of 10 stars.
  • UniqueParticle - 10 December 2022
    Definitely best performance of Aubrey Plaza!
    I wanted to see in theater but it only lasted a week at the theater I go to and was sick at the time glad it's on Netflix now. Emily the Criminal is intense, spectacular, and thrilling; very much worthy of praise! Hard to put 600 characters in about this movie some don't need it but I'll try. Anyway the acting/directing is magnificent throughout especially since it was written and directed by John Patton Ford a not known by himself that's always impressive to me. A great example of someone willing to do a lot for money even if it's risky, law breaking or life threatening. This movie stays enjoyable and perfectly suspenseful for some of it.