TL;DR – An oddly charming film that transcends some of the potential limitations by grounding the characters in a clear sense of time and place.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Finding Emily Review Introduction

When you have been writing reviews for a while, one of the issues that comes up is that you tend to have seen everything under the sun already. It is like that friend who always knows who the murderer is five minutes into a murder mystery. However, every now and again, a film will catch you off guard, and that is what we are looking at today.   

So, to set the scene, Owen (Spike Fearn) is a caring guy trying to make a life as a sound engineer when one night at a club he is working in, he runs into Emily (Sadie Soverall). They immediately hit it off with an almost electric chemistry. To the point he almost loses his job from having a good time. But late at night, before the clock struck 12, Emily had to run off with her friends to another party, but since they were having such fun, she put her number in Owen’s phone. The next morning, Owen’s brother, Matt (Jack Riddiford) and his partner, Freya (Isabella Laughland), did find a bit of glee when Owen discovered Emily had only given her 10 of the 11 digits of her phone number. But Owen was determined, and Manchester is a university town, so someone must know who she is, right? His first attempt was a failure, but Emily Raine (Angourie Rice) was nice enough to help him on his mission, but her motives might not be all that altruistic.

What Worked

One of the best parts of Finding Emily is just how much of himself, Spike Fearn, throws into this film. He is giving it his all, which, given the grief the character is working through, is quite a commitment. He takes a character that could have just been a good-willed yet out of his depth character and gives it depth. I also liked just how much I instantly believed that Spike Fearn, Jack Riddiford, & Isabella Laughland were family. They had a dynamic that was instantly reassuring and helped bring you into this narrative, where the more intentional manic-pixie-dream-girl opening might not have. This also extends to their house, which felt like a real lived-in space, rather than something staged.

Another strength of the film is the tone. They are walking a tightrope between wanting to be fun yet still having something to say. That is a narrow ledge, but they mostly make it work. There are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments throughout the movie, but also some emotionally devastating moments. I can also say that this film is profoundly British, unapologetically British, and not in a ‘this is just a London story’ kind of way. I think there were a couple of moments where even I could not work out what they were saying, but thankfully, the vibe carries you through. Finding Emily also makes the most of its Manchester setting by finding interesting structural elements of the city to film in.

What Was Fine

At the core of this film is the tension between Owen, meaning well, but getting in over his head, and Emily R, balancing wanting to help, while also documenting his failure for an assessment. There are times in this story where they do genuinely catch you off guard with the direction they take, even if the direction is quite familiar. A good example of this is the podcast, which gets more airplay than any university project I have ever seen. Also, I think it would have worked better for the character if they had kept Angourie Rice Australian rather than the dull, generic accent they had her do.

I will say that I did struggle in parts of the film to remove my suspension of disbelief. Part of the problem is that I have worked in the tertiary education sector, so I know how some of those procedures would work in the real world, and you have to constantly put those thoughts out of your mind. It also doesn’t help that you can sit there and realise that, bro, you are only missing 1 digit in a phone number, and, if I did my math right, that is only 110 potential phone numbers, you can brute force that in a morning.     

What Didn’t Work

While the film progressed, you could feel their desire to have a view of the current situation, and while they did have something valuable to say, how they said it was left to be desired. It did feel like the more modern message was meant to be seen as fresh and new, but was packaged in an almost pre-COVID situation wrapping. This meant that the film slipped from commentary into parody and then caricature. It’s not the whole film, thankfully, but it is there. You can see this a lot in the character of, and plot devices around, The Dean (Minnie Driver).                    

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Finding Emily? While not every part of the film works, you cannot deny the charm that plants this well in the echelon of many of its counterparts. Spike Fearn is a delight, and I hope to see him in more things. The situation is profoundly compelling, and in the end, you care because there is real heart on the screen. If nothing else, can I please, please, please implore people to know the difference between a CC and BCC in an email, please.   

Have you watched Finding Emily? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked Finding Emily, we would recommend 10 Things I Hate About You to you because it is working in the same space as Finding Emily, and I think that there will be many who will have the same attachment to Finding Emily that I do to 10 Things.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Finding Emily
Directed by – Alicia MacDonald
Written by – Rachel Hirons
Music by – Morgan Kibby
Cinematography by – Rachel Clark
Edited by – Phil Hignett
Production/Distribution Companies – Working Title Films, Focus Features, & Universal Pictures.
Starring – Spike Fearn, Angourie Rice, Minnie Driver, Kat Ronney, Nadia Parkes, Jack Riddiford, Isabella Laughland, Phil Wang, Sadie Soverall, Amber Grappy, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Timothy Innes, Cora Kirk, Nathan Foad, & Anthony J. Abraham
With – Clara Lioe, Scarlett-Mai Grant, Julia Rogers, Yasmin Paige, Yali Topol Margalith, Kat Kitchener, Herin Seo, Sibusisiwe Nyoni, Alexandra Finnie, Faye Campbell, Lois Mackie, Tash Major, Trudy Akobeng, Julia Bisby, Dalu Thebe, Zaara Malik, Ruby Ablett,
Rating – Australia: M; United Kingdom: 12A;