Finding Emily Review
A charming and wonderfully British rom-com that everyone needs to see this summer.
When a mancunian singer-songwriter meets a girl at a bar, he thinks it’s love at first sight. However, when the number she gave him is missing a digit, he cannot rest until he finds her. With help from another Emily, an American student studying psychology, they go on the ultimate hunt for the mystery girl. When she suggests he email every single Emily in Manchester University, what ensues is a riot of laughter, awkwardness, sentimentality and a whole lot of loveliness. It is filled with British humour and shares so much of it’s charm with the likes of John Hughes and other Working Title films like Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’ Diary. I knew from the opening scene of them dancing in a grimy, sticky-floor student union that I was in for a treat.
Directed by Alicia Macdonald as her first big theatrical release and it is clear she has a flair for romantic comedies. It didn’t feel recycled like a lot of rom-coms nowadays can, it was unique and original. The soundtrack was reminiscent of an 80s/90s movie and aesthetically it felt quintessentially British: like you’d just stepped foot into Manchester and were watching it all play out from the inside.
Spike Fearn, who I expect to have a similar trajectory to his Alien: Romulus co-star David Johnsson, shines as the lead Owen. He feels like so many people I grew up with and there was a wonderful familiar quality to the performance that made you root for him. He isn’t the smartest in the room and sometimes seems as if he has no idea what he’s doing, but ultimately he is a sweetheart and that’s what makes you just fall in love with his character.
Angourie Rice plays American psychology student Emily, who causes the unravelling of the plot and who at first you are a little unsure of because she is cynical and using Owen for “just data”. However, by the end of the film you want nothing more than for the both of them to have the happy ending she is so against at first.
Like so many rom coms, the side characters are just so much fun. Especially Emily’s Professor played by Prasanna Puwanarajah who is perfect in the role of teacher who think’s he is far too much of a prodigy to be teaching the next generation. Alongside Puwanarajah is Cora Kirk as Anna, Emilys best friend and roommate who cheers her on and makes us with she was all our best friend. Her boyfriend, played by Anthony J. Abraham was a standout. He doesn’t play a huge role, nor does he have many lines but every time he spoke I laughed out loud. He was the perfect comic relief side character that all romcoms rely on.
Overall, this really made me excited for British cinema. The best word to describe it is lovely. It just exudes charm and warmth and should be the film everyone is rushing back to cinemas to see on the big screen.