Synopsis
Desperate for income, Emily takes a shady gig buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a charismatic middleman named Youcef. Seduced by the quick cash and illicit thrills, they hatch a plan to take their business to the next level.
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Cast
- Aubrey PlazaEmily
- Theo RossiYoucef
- Megalyn EchikunwokeLiz
- Gina GershonAlice
- Jonathan AvigdoriKhalil
- Bernardo BadilloJavier
- Craig StarkChip
- Brandon SklenarBrent
- John BillingsleyOffice Manager
- Kim YarbroughSecretary
Recommendations
- 91
IndieWire
You always know a Plaza performance will be good, but over the past few years, Plaza has seemed to make it a priority to surprise her audiences with just how good she is. - 83
Entertainment Weekly
Ford imbues his story with a tense, vibrating energy, moving briskly between the breathlessness of a heist thriller and the sharper barbs of social satire. - 80
The Guardian
Ford has a knack for making us sweat without relying on an over-egged score or over-stacked stakes. It’s a genre movie with its feet firmly on the ground, small in scale and tight in focus. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
A cool, confident debut whose steady build mirrors the increasing stakes faced by its namesake, John Patton Ford’s Emily the Criminal is a nail-biter that makes the most of the tough side Aubrey Plaza has shown in even her most comic performances. - 80
Time Out
Plaza, who follows up Black Bear with another darker turn, is great in a role that lets her badass side out for a rampage. - 75
The Playlist
There are definitely some logical gaps in Ford’s screenplay and perhaps the consequences could be slightly more dangerous (intriguingly, guns barely appear throughout the proceedings), but as a filmmaker, he displays a keen awareness of racking up the tension when necessary and not overdoing it when it’s not. - 70
Slashfilm
Plaza's performance, which grows more desperate and more fierce, is what keeps things going. Tension continually mounts and builds, and writer-director Ford stages several anxiety-ridden set-pieces that inspire a sick-to-your-stomach feeling. - 70
Film Threat
The finale of Emily the Criminal does not match the pulse-pounding scenes of her earlier assignments. However, it still manages to work toward a satisfying, logical conclusion while offering a solid critique of the gig economy many Americans face in which fortune is merely a credit card swipe away.
