Click here to copy URL

Emily the Criminal

2022

John Patton Ford

Aubrey Plaza, Theo Rossi, Jonathan Avigdori, Bernardo Badillo ...

6.0

2,064

Thriller. Drama Follows Emily, who gets involved in a credit card scam after being saddled with debt, what pulls her into the criminal and deadly underworld of Los Angeles.

	Author	Review
United States	John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter	"A cool, confident debut whose steady build mirrors the increasing stakes faced by its namesake (...) Plaza commands the screen here, playing a character many will relate to"	POS
United States	Kate Erbland IndieWire	"[Plaza] has managed to turn her pitch-black sarcasm into something with real depth and nuance (...) 'Emily the Criminal' moves toward a shocking, wholly necessary end."	POS
United States	Jacob Oller Paste Magazine	"Plaza is enjoyably grim in the role (...) but compared to some of her more nuanced work in things like 'Ingrid Goes West', it’s a little surface-level and straightforward"	NEU
United States	Damon Wise Deadline	"A taut, gripping but nevertheless damning portrait of how much ground has been lost in the last 40 years."	POS
United States	Gregory Ellwood The Playlist	"[Ford] displays a keen awareness of racking up the tension when necessary and not overdoing it when it’s not"	POS
United States	Jordan Raup The Film Stage	"Aubrey Plaza elevates the simplistic thriller (...) 'Emily the Criminal' keeps up the pace to deliver an entertaining ride but misses the audacity to leave a genuine mark"	NEU
United Kingdom	Tim Grierson Screendaily	"A gripping emotional undercurrent (...) A thriller consistently pushed into darker, more intriguing terrain by Aubrey Plaza's electric performance"	POS
United States	Leah Greenblatt Entertainment Weekly	"Aubrey Plaza shines (...) She may be a wanton criminal, but she's also a woman very much for these times: Not the anti-heroine we knew we needed, maybe, but one that we deserve"	POS
United States	Amy Nicholson Variety	"[A] cold and thin character study (...) [It] feels as distanced from its taciturn subject as if it was merely monitoring her on security camera."	NEG
United States	Brian Tallerico rogerebert.com	"It's worth seeing because of the driven performance from Aubrey Plaza, who has never been better (...) It's a force of nature performance in a movie that sometimes feels a little too breezy"	NEU
United States	Emily Zemler The New York Observer	"Plaza's ongoing determination to bring out the authenticity of the story actually makes the film darker than it would be as a traditional thriller (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Phil de Semlyen Time Out	"Aubrey Plaza is great (...) As protagonists go, this is one that's going to resonate with a heck of a lot of young people (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Canada	Josh Bell CBR	"'Emily the Criminal' is a suspenseful, engrossing thriller about a woman finding her purpose in life, however dark and messed-up that purpose may be"	POS
United States	Wes Greene Slant	"A volcanic Aubrey Plaza anchors a routine crime drama"	NEU
United States	Ross Bonaime Collider	"Aubrey Plaza gives one of her best performances yet (...) 'Emily the Criminal' is an excellent example of how to make an effective thriller on a smaller scale"	POS
United Kingdom	Benjamin Lee The Guardian	"A tense feature with an electrifying central performance (...) It's an undeniably striking debut, slick and involving enough to have us curiously excited (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Chris Evangelista SlashFilm	"The movie's climactic sequence seems to sideline Emily when this should remain solely her story and her story alone (...) The most memorable, outstanding element is Aubrey Plaza"	NEU
United States	Lori C. Ready Steady Cut	"A brilliant piece of art that’s particularly relevant to today’s world (...) Rating: ★★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
Canada	Mae Abdulbaki Screen Rant	"Aubrey Plaza does stunning work (...) A thriller with character depth (...) Poignant in parts, sharp and thrilling in others, [it] satisfyingly delivers on many levels (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Catherine Bray Empire	"An entertaining thriller that also functions as a character study with a dark side (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Canada	Mel Valentin Screen Anarchy	"Every decision logically follows the other (...) By the final, Emily should be entirely unsympathetic, but given the journey Ford has taken Emily and the audience on, she's the opposite"	POS
Canada	Chris Bumbray JoBlo	"It's a terrific movie for debut for Ford, and Plaza has never been better. She'll seems well on her way to becoming a formidable big-screen badass"	POS

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.