7 minute read
Aubrey Plaza Shines in ‘Emily the Criminal’
from Sunday Signal 082122
by Signal
ENTERTAINMENT
Aubrey Plaza Offers a ‘Unique Screen Presence’ in ‘Emily the Criminal’
By Richard Roeper
Signal Contributing Writer
1/2 (out of four) Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment present a film written and directed by John Patton Ford. Rated R. In theaters.
Ever since her days on “Parks & Recreation,” Aubrey Plaza has excelled at playing characters who can cut you to ribbons with a withering glance or a deadpan observation — and yet they seem to have just enough vulnerability, a kind of reluctant humanity, that makes them more complex and empathetic than our initial impressions. Plaza is a unique screen presence who adds an electric spark to every project.
In John Patton Ford’s edgy and intense working-class neo-noir thriller “Emily the Criminal,” Plaza does some of the most impressive and richly layered work in her career as a Jersey-born California transplant who made some bad decisions when she was in college and finds herself still trying to climb out of a hole a decade later. It is one of the best performances of the year in one of the best movies of the year.
Set in a gritty Los Angeles where the daytime sunshine is so blindingly bright it feels like a film negative and the nights are pitch-black and filled with shadowy characters who aren’t to be trusted, “Emily the Criminal” employs a less-is-more strategy from the get-go, doling out just enough key pieces of information to keep us riveted. This tone is set in the opening scene, when Plaza’s title character is being interviewed for a position by a supervisor who takes almost sadistic delight in trapping her for lying on her resume and telling her to her face that there’s no way she’s getting this job. (This isn’t the first time Emily will find herself in dicey situations with people who initially appear to be friendly but then bare their claws.)
Saddled with $70,000 in student loan debt for an art degree she couldn’t complete due to unforeseen circumstances, Emily works as an independent contractor for a catering company, hustling all over town way, and actually becomes more committed to more dangerous but potentially lucrative crimes than Youcef.
“Emily the Criminal” doesn’t excuse the actions of this antihero, but we can see how she has talked herself into this potentially life-threatening corner. (Early on, when a sympathetic Youcef asks her if there aren’t any other ways for her to make money, she shoots the same question right back at him.) Theo Rossi delivers outstanding work as Youcef, who has no qualms about running a criminal enterprise but has a soulful side, and genuinely cares for Emily. Rossi and Plaza make for a sizzling team; we believe every syllable of their dialogue, every development in their relationship. It’s almost criminal how
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to deliver trays to offices and special events where the clients regard her as a nearly invisible nuisance who just needs to get out of the way so they can chow down.
When Emily does a solid for her coworker Javier (Bernardo Badillo), he returns the favor by giving her a tip that could lead to a lucrative side gig. Emily arrives at a warehouse and takes her seat along with a dozen or so others, as a soft-spoken man named Youcef (Theo Rossi) asks the assembled group: “Do you want to make $200 an hour?” Youcef makes it clear that what they’ll be doing is illegal, and Emily considers heading Sfor the exit — but man, does she need money. The payments she’s making unday-Thursday,August 21-25, 2022 on her loan aren’t even enough to cover the interest.
Turns out Youcef and his more intimidating, brutish cousin Khalil (Jonathan Avigdori) are running a widespread operation involving stolen credit cards and fake IDs. On Emily’s first job, she buys a flatscreen TV under an assumed identity, hustles out of the store and meets Youcef at a designated spot, at which point he hands her the two hundred in cash and says there’s more where TM NEWHALL that came from. Soon Emily is using a black card to buy a luxury automobile 22500 Lyons Ave. info Line 310.478.3836 from some shady dealers, and to say things go sideways on THAT job is an Bringing the Finest in Film to the SCV! understatement. THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING E Thu: 7:20 PM Director Ford does a magnificent job of raising the dramatic stakes as A mythology scholar visiting Istanbul happens to encounter BEAST E 1:00 3:15 5:25 7:40 A recently widowed husband returns to South Africa with hi a Djinn, who s daughters.. offers But w her hat three wishes in exc begins as a journey ha of nge hea for his ling jol freedo ts into m. a Emily plunges deeper and deeper into the criminal vortex, highlighted by a fearsome fight for survival DRAGON BALL 7:30 PM when a lion SUPER who now sees all humans as the enemy, be : SUPER HERO C Sun: gins stal 1:00 king them. 7:30; Mon to Thu: Tarantino-esque sequence in which The Red Ribbon which start atta Army cking was on Piccolo ce an destroyed d Gohan. by Son Goku. Individuals who carry on its spirit have created the ultimate Androids,, Emily is robbed of all her cash as well EMILY THE CRIMINAL E 7:20 PM as a friend’s dog, and we’ll say no Emily i by the s q saddled with uick cash and stude illicit nt th debt rills o and locked f black-mar out ket of the job capitalism market , and in due to creasin a gl minor crimina y interested in l record. Emily soon her mentor Youcef. finds herself seduced more about how that plays out. MACK & RITA C Sun: 4:20 PM; Mon to Thu: 1:20 4:20
As the relationship between Emily A disillus While at ioned 30-somethingher best friend’s part w y, ho i she s exhausted by societal stumbles into a “sound demands and w bath regression ishes pod” to an be comfor d emerges table in her skin l as a 70-year-old ike her grandmother. and Youcef becomes something big- BULLE An unlucky T TRAIN E assassin determine 1:10 d to do 4:10 his job pe 7:10 acefully after one too many gigs gone off the rails. Fate, however, may have other ger than conspirators and they begin plans, as Ladybug’s latest mission puts him on a collision course with lethal adversaries from around the globe. to dream of the obligatory life after EAST Stand-up ER com SUNDAY edy sensation Jo C Koy stars 1:30 as a ma 4:30 7:30 n returning home for an Easter celebration with his riotous, bickering, eating, crime, we see moments when Emily tries to connect to the straight world, drinking, laughing, loving family, in this love NOPE E 1:10 4:00 7:00 The film reunites Peele with Oscar® winner D letter to his Filipin aniel Kaluuya who o-Americ is joined an by community. Keke Palmer and Oscar® nominee Steven Yeun as e.g., when her best friend Liz (Megalyn Echikunwoke) hooks her up with residents NT LI Tessa is a in a lonely gulch of inland California who bear witness VE: PRIMA FACIE Mon: 7:30 PM; thoroughbred. A young, brilliant barrister who loves to to an un Tue: win. canny a 1:00 nd chill PM ing discovery. an interview at Liz’s ad agency. Gina Gershon kills it as Liz’s smug and MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS B 1:15 4:10 Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris tells the story of a widowed cleaning lady in 1950s London who dress. She works, starves and gambles to raise the funds, then embarks on a life-changin falls madly in love g adventure in Par w is. ith a couture Dior self-pleased boss, who believes Emily WHERE THE Kya, an abandoned gi CRAWD rl who raised ADS SING herself to adultho C od in the 1:00 4:00 dangerous marshl 7:00 ands of North Carolina, finds herself drawn to opens should be on her hands and knees in gratitude for a chance at an unpaid herself to two young men from town. FIRE OF LOVE B Wed: 7:30 PM Intrepid scientists and lovers Katia and Maurice Krafft died in a volcanic explosion doing the very thing that brought them together: internship, given Emily’s past. Let’s unraveling the mysteries of volcanoes by capturing the most explosive imagery ever recorded. just say Emily doesn’t see things that WWW.LAEMMLE.COM FOR 8/21/20228/25/2022 ONLY
PHOTO COURTESY IMDB
