Emily (Aubrey Plaza) resorts to credit card scams as she finds herself riddled with student debt and unable to enter the job market due to her criminal record. Her entrance into black-market capitalism is fueled by Youcef (Theo Rossi), whose business partner takes concern in his and Emily’s growing relationship.
What begins as a desperate attempt to repay student loans turns into a thrilling pursuit of love, quick cash, and revenge. Emily the Criminal feels like a spiral where those involved are trying to win back their power in a world that doesn’t care about them. The criminal characters are contextualized in a system so broken and relatable that we root for them. Emily has $70,000 in student debt and the only real job prospect she’s able to get is an unpaid internship without guaranteed work once completed. There are inherent problems with illicit thrills but when faced with customs that lock people out, those thrills seem more justifiable.
Rooting for Emily the Criminal
“I think there is a lot of commentary in the film,” said Plaza, “I think you’re seeing a character up against a broken system. She’s drowning in debt, student loans specifically, and I think a lot of people today can relate to that…. There are a couple of scenes that really highlight this. There are some job interview scenes in the film where you kind of get to see the nuances of the broken system we’re currently living in, and I think there’s…
