Emily the Criminal

Saddled with student debt and unable to find work, a college graduate becomes involved in a credit card scam, acting as a dummy shopper and buying increasingly risky products with stolen credit cards, all while hoping to stay ahead of both the cops and the shadowy figures she works for, as she plans her escape.

I love, love, love a good heist film.

If you’re a heist film, or a “gettin’ the band back together” men-on-mission film, or even better, a combination of the two, then, you son of a bitch… I’m in.

But one thing I’m really getting bored with, something that seemingly is currently dominating the genre with the plethora of neo-noir “veterans home from the Middle East with no opportunities other than trying for the big score” type of films, is how most of the time, when our protagonists make their big plans, and shoot their shot, they just end up getting shot down…

Fuck that. I’m tired of that.

I want to see these criminals succeed. When the main characters are down to their last option, so they lash out against a world run by lazy, ugly, rich monsters, a world protected by eager Brownshirts, a world that wants them dead or in chains forever, I want them to get away with it. I want these stories to end with boat drinks and sandy beaches. We all know who the actual heroes are in these types of stories and it’s well past time that they should be treated as such. It is well past time that they should be rewarded for their efforts.

Which is one reason for why I loved Emily the Criminal.

This is a film about a young woman trying to get out from under the crushing weight of debt she was saddled with in pursuit of the America Dream, her future choked off while she was doing exactly what she is “supposed to do” in this land of opportunity, the greatest country on Earth, and how the reality that waited for her on the far end of all that hard work wasn’t a dream at all, but a nightmare.

This is a film about the inequities of modern day American life, and how they create the desperation that forces people into the kind of situations that often end up with them jammed up by a system specifically designed so that the only result is to lock you up, to never let you go, and then to suck you dry, and how the best you can hope for is a scraggly carrot dangling just out of your reach, urging you on until you drop dead, all for the benefit of the wealthy.

Emily the Criminal is about how, for many people, there isn’t any choice at all. This is the only option that have ever given you.

Most of all, I really liked how the stakes in this story are desperate, yes, for the characters, but also, they’re pretty small potatoes, relatively. Nothing but a few thousand dollars, pocket change for some, but the yoke around the necks of most others, a weight that is slowly dragging them under, drowning them. This is a very relatable thing for most people these days, with their “one paycheck away from the edge” lifestyle here in this shining city on the hill of a country, right?

Aubrey Plaza is amazing, as always, and here specifically, she’s pure desperate charisma, willing to push as hard as she can to get out of her trap. Theo Rossi is always a welcome presence on screen too, well on his way to becoming a legendary “Hey, it’s that guy” actor. Together, they’re really great in this swift on its feet little crime thriller.

So… big thumbs up. Definitely check it out.