Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is a food delivery driver living in Los Angeles. She works long hours, spends too much time in her car, and struggles under the weight of large student loan debt. Emily went to art school, and in a perfect, moneyless world, she would spend her days drawing. Her current circumstances are so far from that ideal world that when she’s presented with an opportunity to make $200 an hour in an illegal credit card scam run by Youcef (Theo Rossi), it’s too enticing to pass up.
Emily the Criminal sees Plaza in a more understated role than most have come to expect from her. Even in her breakout role in Parks and Recreation, where she played the moody, closed-off April Ludgate, there was an eccentricity to her performance. She went on to star in raunchy comedies like The To Do List, Dirty Grandpa, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, and others. Since then, Plaza has begun to flex her dramatic chops, proving that she’s more than just a one-trick comedy pony. Her expressive face that’s usually contorted into jokey looks is instead stricken with pain throughout Emily the Criminal. Expressions of genuine rage, desperation, and disappointment cross her face regularly, yet Plaza manages to exude the same confidence she carried in her comedic roles.
Classifying Emily the Criminal as simply a crime movie would be to overlook its carefully constructed criticisms about the crippling student loan problem that plagues the United States. Emily isn’t made out…
