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Emily the Criminal

  • 2022
  • R
  • 1h 37m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
64K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
3,272
533
Aubrey Plaza in Emily the Criminal (2022)
Down on her luck and saddled with debt, Emily gets involved in a credit card scam that pulls her into the criminal underworld of Los Angeles, ultimately leading to deadly consequences.
Play trailer2:14
7 Videos
99+ Photos
HeistPsychological DramaPsychological ThrillerWorkplace DramaCrimeDramaMysteryThriller

Down on her luck and saddled with debt, Emily gets involved in a credit card scam that pulls her into the criminal underworld of Los Angeles, ultimately leading to deadly consequences.Down on her luck and saddled with debt, Emily gets involved in a credit card scam that pulls her into the criminal underworld of Los Angeles, ultimately leading to deadly consequences.Down on her luck and saddled with debt, Emily gets involved in a credit card scam that pulls her into the criminal underworld of Los Angeles, ultimately leading to deadly consequences.

  • Director
    • John Patton Ford
  • Writer
    • John Patton Ford
  • Stars
    • Aubrey Plaza
    • Theo Rossi
    • Bernardo Badillo
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.7/10
    64K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    3,272
    533
    • Director
      • John Patton Ford
    • Writer
      • John Patton Ford
    • Stars
      • Aubrey Plaza
      • Theo Rossi
      • Bernardo Badillo
    • 320User reviews
    • 163Critic reviews
    • 75Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 9 wins & 25 nominations total

    Videos7

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:14
    Official Trailer
    Emily the Criminal
    Trailer 2:20
    Emily the Criminal
    Emily the Criminal
    Trailer 2:20
    Emily the Criminal
    Why Theo Rossi Loves When Fans Call Him "Juice"
    Clip 5:17
    Why Theo Rossi Loves When Fans Call Him "Juice"
    Emily The Criminal: New Car
    Clip 1:21
    Emily The Criminal: New Car
    Emily The Criminal: The Interview
    Clip 1:01
    Emily The Criminal: The Interview
    Emily The Criminal: No No No
    Clip 1:05
    Emily The Criminal: No No No

    Photos117

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    Top cast36

    Edit
    Aubrey Plaza
    Aubrey Plaza
    • Emily
    Theo Rossi
    Theo Rossi
    • Youcef
    Bernardo Badillo
    Bernardo Badillo
    • Javier
    John Billingsley
    John Billingsley
    • Office Manager
    Kim Yarbrough
    Kim Yarbrough
    • Secretary
    Kara Luiz
    Kara Luiz
    • Bank Boss
    Janice Sonia Lee
    Janice Sonia Lee
    • Becca
    Wesley Han
    Wesley Han
    • Mike
    Wyatt Barrios
    • Javier's Son
    Megalyn Echikunwoke
    Megalyn Echikunwoke
    • Liz
    Brandon Sklenar
    Brandon Sklenar
    • Brent
    Ben Rodgers
    Ben Rodgers
    • Jason
    Ricarlo Flanagan
    • Mike
    Amje Elharden
    • Robert
    Jonathan Avigdori
    Jonathan Avigdori
    • Khalil
    Victor Manso
    Victor Manso
    • Young Guy in Baseball Hat
    Lamar Usher
    Lamar Usher
    • Lamar
    Roman Arabia
    Roman Arabia
    • Security Guard
    • Director
      • John Patton Ford
    • Writer
      • John Patton Ford
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews320

    6.763.9K
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    10

    Featured reviews

    8swilkens-70825

    Support more indie films like this.

    In a saturated cesspool of entertainment now a days, it's films like these that are hard to come by. Engaging, tense, well acted, really drove the message of our awful job market in the states in a tasteful way. No CGI, greenscreens, gender politics. Just solid story telling. It's Breaking Bad "lite" for those that are a fan of the series.
    7tkdlifemagazine

    Aubrey Plaza and Theo Rossi are Terrific Together

    Aubrey Plaza and Theo Rossi are Terrific Together in this drama and thriller rolled into one. Plaza shows great acting acumen as a "down on her luck" artist who becomes swept up in a crime spree to earn extra income. She is sweet, vulnerable, and relatable in this roll. She plays it really well. Rossi is terrific as her crime mentor. He plays a savvy non-violent criminal with a softer side. The film reminds me of another great film, Uncut Gems, in all the right ways. The acting is sharp. The Direction is first class. The Cinematography is very good. The movie is small in some senses. But it evokes many emotions- from anxiety to sadness, and more. This so worth watching for the performances alone.
    9Minnesota_Reid

    The Making of a Criminal

    This is a very engaging movie. Plaza is good, and Rossi, as her mentor in crime, is even better. They have a good chemistry together, which makes all the difference.

    Her initial state --- student debt, no good job available, shared housing, etc. -- makes her desperation for something else understandable. Her step-by-step descent into crime feels credible, as do the details of the criminal schemes themselves.

    Well worth watching.
    8JoshuaMercott

    Astonishingly Relevant & Realistic

    A debt-ridden woman with an unkind past forced, Emily was cornered into partaking of a shady 'dummy shopper' scam. Things got bad to worse from there, resulting in a movie that was equally entertaining and gripping.

    John Patton Ford did an excellent job writing and directing this project. Nathan Halpern's musical scoring was noteworthy though minimal. Jeff Bierman's cinematography was engaging and deep. Detail-driven work all round by the editing, hair-makeup, art direction, production design, costume, and stunt departments.

    I personally believe that Aubrey Plaza's Emily is one of her career-highlight roles. She gave a riveting performance as a misunderstood and pressured woman trying to find peace of mind through freedom from debt.

    Yousef, played by Theo Rossi, was great. Liz, played by Megalyn Echikunwoke, was quite good. Javier, played by Bernardo Badillo, was notable. Khalil, played by Jonathan Avigdori, was good. Vaz, played by Jack Topalian, was quite good. Armen, played by Roman Mitichyan, was memorable.

    All other cast and crew did notable work in "Emily The Criminal" now streaming via Amazon Prime VOD.

    This movie, and Aubrey Plaza's role in it, made me reaffirm the fact that our societal systems are designed to drive some people over the edge for no fault of their own. The script left no loose ends. Every frame, even the simple ones, felt like they contained hints of something dark at play.

    "Emily The Criminal" was one of the best movies I've seen in 2022. It captured desperation and humanity in understandable and convincing ways. The movie also conveyed a guarantee that any one of us would've made the same decisions as Emily if the circumstances were right.

    Realistic portrayals of the job market and its exploitation - unpaid internships, to name one - were also focused upon. The way it all led to Emily choosing crime to pay her bills and survive ended up feeling credible and essential. The script put paid to the adage, "criminals are not born, they're made."
    JohnDeSando

    An anti-hero for our times and a superior actress.

    Emily the Criminal stands next to Maverick for the best thriller of the year. That's because of Aubrey Plaza, who plays the anti-hero for our times

    The eponymous bad girl of the Sundance breakout Emily the Criminal is as much a victim of society's neglect as she is of her own self-centeredness. Yet Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is self-sufficient and capable of kicking serious butt, not in a professional, martial-arts way, but in a way that mirrors her determination.

    It's not difficult to see why she is easily seduced from food-delivery work to credit card scamming given the $70K in school loans, half a degree, and her permanent record of aggravated assault and DUI. The clarity and tension with which writer/director John Patton Ford unfolds Emily's arc are admirable--anyone in the audience can immediately identify with her dilemma-to remain poor or to make enough to erase debt and live comfortably.

    Emily's only real friend is her old college chum, Liz (Megalyn Echikunwoke), who gets her an ad-agency interview with a mean womansplaining exec (Gina Gershon) that serves as the last testament to what Emily will suffer for every job she interviews: facing her criminal record and being offered, in this case, an internship for almost a half year without pay.

    Hooking up with an enterprise that scams credit cards is almost a given; hooking up with the middle manager, Yusuf (Theo Rossi), is also a given, given that he is handsome, charming, and warm hearted. The drama actually comes alive when she begins scamming, showing a natural talent and aggressive enough, unlike other modern heroines, to escape by wit or just smarts with the help of a taser or boxcutters.

    Throughout Emily the Detective, Plaza plays a decent millenial who has been buffeted by fate and her own stern affect to find salvation in accelerating crime, for which she has talent. Emily is not really the criminal that Yusuf's colleagues are; rather she's a bright woman caught in a social satire both trenchant and scary.

    You'll love Plaza in this role. Just pray she can move from her deadpan characters to a variety of strong women. Like Ryan Gosling in Drive, she's impossible to ignore. She's that good.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Shot in just 21 days in "the worst parts of L.A."
    • Goofs
      When Emily first goes to the Dummy Shopper meeting she's asked, who gave her the number, by Khalil. She tells him it was Javier. Khalil then calls Javier to confirm it. Later on while working together, Javier asks Emily if she texted the number, which he should know she did from the call he received.
    • Quotes

      Emily: If you want to tell me what to do, put me on the fucking payroll!

    • Connections
      Featured in Amanda the Jedi Show: This Movie Saved My Life (and the one's that almost ruined it): Best and Worst of 2022 (2023)
    • Soundtracks
      String Sextet in A Major, OP. 48, B. 80: IV. Finale. Theme and Variations
      Written by Antonín Dvorák

      Performed by Anna Kreeta Gribajcevic, Jens Peter Maintz, Fine Arts Quartet

      Courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc.

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    FAQ19

    • How long is Emily the Criminal?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 12, 2022 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official site
    • Languages
      • English
      • Arabic
      • Spanish
      • Korean
    • Also known as
      • Emily la criminal
    • Filming locations
      • Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico(End scene after Emily left the U.S.)
    • Production companies
      • Evil Hag Productions
      • Low Spark Films
      • Fear Knot Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $3,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $2,156,296
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $669,161
      • Aug 14, 2022
    • Gross worldwide
      • $2,157,673
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 37 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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