Emily the Criminal

Emily the Criminal is a very interesting film.

And I especially appreciate how little it needs to complicate itself in order to work.

A woman struggling financially, trapped by debt and constantly blocked from better jobs because of her past, discovers a quick way to make money.

From there, one decision leads naturally to another.

That is probably what I like most about John Patton Ford's film. Emily does not suddenly enter the criminal world because the screenplay needs a dramatic transformation. It happens gradually.

First she needs money.

Then she discovers she is good at it.

Eventually, she begins to find something in this illegal world that conventional life has never really given her:

control.

The film also refuses to excuse everything she does.

That matters.

Emily makes increasingly questionable choices, and eventually circumstances can no longer explain all of them. Yet it is never difficult to understand where her anger comes from.

Debt.

Badly paid work.

Job interviews where she is constantly forced to defend her past.

Employers asking for experience, flexibility and obedience while offering very little in return.

Then she discovers something illegal that at least pays immediately.

Morally, the choice is complicated.

Economically, perhaps less so.

Aubrey Plaza is essential.

Her familiar detached expression and dry intensity become something much darker here. Emily often looks as though she is permanently holding something back.

As though she is two seconds away from telling somebody exactly what she thinks.

Sometimes she does.

Plaza makes even Emily's silences feel active. You always sense that she is watching, calculating and learning.

That carries a great deal of the film.

I also like how the fraud itself is presented. There are no criminal masterminds or impossible schemes.

Cards.

Purchases.

Quick money.

People exploiting small weaknesses in a system.

And very real consequences.

That simplicity gives the thriller a useful sense of proximity.

Ford also increases the tension gradually. What begins as a desperate financial opportunity becomes increasingly dangerous without the film suddenly changing tone.

Emily learns.

She becomes more confident.

She also takes bigger risks.

And that creates an interesting contradiction: the better she becomes at this life, the more dangerous it becomes.

Theo Rossi works well as Youcef because their relationship is never easy to define. Attraction, convenience, trust and business are all mixed together, which suits a world where almost every relationship has some kind of price.

I would not call Emily the Criminal an exceptional thriller.

It does not need to be one.

The story is relatively small, direct and sometimes simple. Some situations could have been explored further, and a few supporting characters mainly exist to move Emily toward her next decision.

But the film knows its length.

It keeps moving.

And it remains engaging.

Beneath the crime story there is also an uncomfortable idea that the movie never needs to explain loudly: the legal system Emily is trying to re-enter is not exactly fair either.

A job can exploit you legally.

Debt can follow you for years legally.

A company can keep rejecting you because of past mistakes legally.

Emily discovers another route.

It is illegal.

But for the first time, the rules seem to work in her favor.

That is where the movie becomes most interesting.

It never turns Emily into a perfect victim or a hero.

It simply watches her cross one line.

Then another.

Then another.

Until it becomes surprisingly difficult to remember exactly where the first one was.

Original, entertaining and driven by a very good Aubrey Plaza.

Definitely worth watching.