Written and Directed by John Patton Ford
Starring Aubrey Plaza, Theo Rossi and Bernardo Badillo
Running time 1 hour and 33 minutes
MPAA Rating R for brief drug use, some violence and language
In theaters Friday

by Rosalie Kicks, Editor in Chief and Old Sport

Life is notorious for not being fair. It is often said that we cannot change the cards we are dealt, but instead how we play the hand in regards to our fate. For some, the only way to play the game is to cheat.

The twenty-something Emily (Aubrey Plaza) has the cards stacked against her. She is swimming in debt compliments of student loans for an art school degree that she didn’t complete. Despite her talents, not having the confirmation of said talent by way of a printed piece of paper (ie diploma) causes her to struggle finding work within her desired field. However, that is just one of the roadblocks. The icing on the proverbial cake is that, due to a criminal record, she can’t even find decent employment. A spat with a former boyfriend left Emily with a felony assault charge that follows her like a dark cloud everywhere she goes. This one mistake in time has now left her to be viewed eternally with judgment and bias. Ultimately, this causes her to only be able to obtain unsteady, part-time, gig-type jobs. Due to the lack of a consistent schedule, her mountain of bills continues to grow as she is often only able to make the minimal payments necessary. With no end in sight to the financial prison, Emily opts for a life crime via the act of credit card scamming.

Emily The Criminal exposes the society in which we all currently live: a place that does not offer forgiveness or rehabilitation. Instead, individuals are driven to turn to illicit means simply to make ends meet. It is not to say that wrongful acts should go without punishing, it is more the sentiment that a person should have the opportunity to be seen beyond a specific moment in time in which they may have made a poor decision. The truly sad part in the matter is those (*cough* corporations) that commit vile acts against humanity each and every day continue to go unreprimanded.

Through out the course of the movie Emily goes on three job interviews:

#1: In the opening sequence a Human Resources representative aggressively questions her past after obtaining a background check report. They already had offered her a role with the company and seemed to have run the report without any knowledge to her nor do they give her the opportunity to explain. Instead, they throw the report on the desk and proclaim she is not a trustworthy individual based on the information that was found. It should be noted as a person that has extensive experience in Human Resources, none of this legal. It is not to say it does not happen like this somewhere… it just should not.

#2: The next interview she attends is a group-styled evaluation, in which a bunch of people are being asked a series of questions. Given that this opportunity is illegal in nature, the line of questioning is meant to weed out those that are not up for the task. What struck me as interesting when comparing it to the previous scene is that, in this case, the interviewee does not care to know anything about you or your past and instead just wants to know about the present. Whether a person is willing to risk it all for a paycheck. With nothing to lose, Emily takes the job.

#3: The final interview is set up through a former schoolmate which one could presume is working Emily’s dream career at a design firm of sorts. Emily has a meeting with one of the higher-ups (Gina Gershon) and they run down her resume. Emily is forthcoming with her past and explains that she is simply looking for a foot in the door. Well, Gina has just the opportunity: an unpaid internship. Of course, Emily does not have the capacity to work strenuous hours without compensation and, upon making the disrespectful executive aware of reality, informs her to stuff her lunch.

I give details of each of these interviews because I think it shows the amazing way in which this film represents the problems within our society. In the first instance, it shows how Emily is not able to move beyond the past and is perpetually stuck there, no matter who she is now in the present. In the last interview witnessed, they are willing to give her a shot, but at a cost of her livelihood, simply due to employer thinking they are being helpful to someone with a sketchy past. The employer sees the rejection as ungrateful instead of seeing the position offered for what it truly is: taking advantage of an individual that started on uneven ground.

Aubrey Plaza really does a wonderful job of showing her range within this role. Prior to watching, I would not have expected to see her in a action/thriller type story, but shame on me for not thinking outside the box. She truly gives it her all and is convincing as Emily. I especially liked the scenes with her nefarious co-star, Theo Rossi. In the end, it isn’t really the life of crime that Emily chooses, it is just the only option available to her.