Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Emily the Criminal Blu-ray Movie Review

Not-so-cheap thrills.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III December 15, 2022

A taut and mostly well-crafted dramatic thriller, John Patton Ford's Emily the Criminal features one of Aubrey Plaza's best roles to date. She's ten years too old to play the twenty-something Emily Benetto but owns it anyway, wringing a decent amount of sympathy from an unsympathetic character while maintaining a critical balance between confidence and vulnerability. Saddled with $70K in student debt while treading water in Los Angeles, she holds down a thankless catering job before co-worker Javier (Bernardo Badillo) puts her in touch with the charismatic Youcef (Theo Rossi), who smoothly recruits "dummy shoppers" as part of a credit card fraud ring. $200 for an hour's work, legal or not, is simply too good to refuse and the initial job leads to bigger ones, with higher stakes resulting in bigger payouts.

Heist films with ever-increasing risks rarely lead to "happily ever after", and Emily the Criminal is no different. But it's anything but a simple series of proportionately more dangerous jobs, choosing instead to simultaneously balance two interpersonal relationships in the process. The first and more effective is her new partnership with Youcef, which turns into an exclusive one after Emily works independently under his guidance... much to the disappointment of Youcef's imposing cousin Khalil (Jonathan Avigdori). He not only disapproves of an outsider's sudden rise to prominence, but of course their budding romantic relationship as well. The second and less essential one is Emily's ongoing friendship with old art school buddy Liz (Megalyn Echikunwoke), who offers emotional support while trying to land Emily a competitive job in the field. Due to the focus on Emily's new path this second option never feels realistic, which builds to a second disastrous job interview that all but cements her motivation for a desperate heist that drives the film's tense final act. It's forgivable under the circumstances -- partially due to the strength of Aubrey Plaza's performance, and partially due to Emily the Criminal's brisk pace -- but still has the bitter aftertaste of clumsy and clichéd writing.

If I'm being honest, both of these relationships are a mild distraction for what Emily the Criminal does best: give its main character time to find her own path away from the influence of others. The film really doesn't need these more conventional detours to be exciting or engaging, as more than enough dramatic tension is achieved as Emily rapidly climbs the rungs on this new ladder. It expertly skewers the bottomless pit of debt that plagues so many young people, showing how desperate times can certainly call for desperate measures; we can't necessarily blame her for taking this path under the circumstances, which of course is aided by Plaza's committed lead performance. And while it's kind of unfortunate that our sympathies are somewhat influenced by the fact that this objectively amoral main character is indeed an attractive white woman, it nonetheless works within the film's strict boundaries and makes for an engaging experience that may not linger long in your mind afterword but feels very effective in the moment.

In other words, despite a few narrative flaws Emily the Criminal is strong enough to stand on its own two feet, carried largely by this bold acting turn for Plaza (who also produced the film) and a fairly solid first-time writer-director effort from John Patton Ford. That's good news for this disappointingly slim but still worthwhile Blu-ray package from Vertical Entertainment, which offers a decent A/V presentation and a reasonable price tag but no bonus features.

Emily the Criminal Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shot with Sony's CineAlta Venice digital camera at 4K with an unspecified digital intermediate, Emily the Criminal has a high-contrast appearance with noticeable amounts of added grain to give it a suitably down-to-earth, lived-in aesthetic. The mostly hand-held shots and close to mid-length compositions reveal plenty of textural detail in clothing, skin pores and other items, while depth is somewhat low in exterior and interior shots alike. A few storefronts suffer from blown-out white levels due to extremely sunny weather conditions, but it's not at all distracting due to their rare appearance and the film's vérité-style approach to cinematography. Colors are mostly muted and shadow detail holds up nicely in most cases, with some darkened rooms displaying a reasonably high level of perceived detail despite the almost total absence of natural or artificial light. The single-layered disc has more than enough real estate for this 96-minute main feature, and it's cleanly encoded with only trace instances of macroblocking and banding along the way. Overall, this is a solid effort that pulls its weight, although a 4K option would have been interesting for comparison.

Emily the Criminal Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Emily the Criminal's DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix follows suit with a realistically-appointed sound stage that decently supports this dialogue-driven production. Truth be told much of it is fairly reserved, with mostly front-loaded activity that's sporadically bolstered by background effects specific to the situation: pots and pans clattering around in the busy restaurant kitchen, the echo of urban street activity, and other candidates hoping to secure a spot in Yucef's back-door business. But since most of the time characters are either solo or in groups of two or three, crowded situations aren't common although the limited original score by Nathan Halpern offers some support in this regard.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered during the main feature, but there are more than a few typos and even several gaps where portions of dialogue were not understood by the subtitle translator.

Emily the Criminal Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in an eco-friendly keepcase with a not-so-eco-friendly slipcover and no inserts. Unfortunately, no bonus features of any kind are included either.

Emily the Criminal Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

John Patton Ford's Emily the Criminal is carried by the first-time writer-director's engaging premise and a solid starring performance from Aubrey Plaza, as well as its mostly tight pacing and tense atmosphere. Reportedly shot in less than three weeks, it's a strong independent effort that unfortunately leans a bit too heavy on two clichéd side plots -- both related to relationships for the main character -- but nonetheless survives these speed bumps with energy to spare. Vertical Entertainment's Blu-ray offers a strong A/V presentation and a very reasonable asking price, but the lack of bonus features still stings a little. Nonetheless, it's potentially worth a blind buy for interested parties.