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Aubrey Plaza Finally Get Perfect Showcase with Emily The Criminal

 

As a college grad, I perpetually lived with the fear that those credit card collectors strategically dodged over the phone would roll up on my apartment and cart me off in cuffs for my lack of financial responsibility.  Very naive…I know.  But, it’s the desperation mixed with feat that makes one in this position do and say some crazy things.

Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is saddled with student debt ($70k to be exact) and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig as a “dummy shopper,” buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a middleman named Youcef (Theo Rossi). Faced with a series of dead-end job interviews, Emily soon finds herself seduced not only by the quick cash and illicit thrills of black market capitalism, but also by her ardent mentor Youcef.

Writer-director John Patton Ford’s taut thriller follows Emily from the margins of the corporate gig economy to the borderlands of the Los Angeles underworld. Emily the Criminal keeps sharp focus on its ambitious and increasingly reckless protagonist.

Aubrey Plaza, gives a nervy, committed performance, transforming Emily from an embittered temp worker into a stone-cold thief. She is a boss for the entire film ultimately creating her journey on her terms.  Her performance is a bold, inspiring and confident of woman desperately attempting to gain control of a life spun out by virtue of her choices.  Rossi is disarmingly vulnerable as her partner in crime making them both two the major reasons this film works on every visceral level.

Now streaming on Netflix, Emily the Criminal may leave millions of college students scheming to climb out of financial mess acerbated by an unforgiving economy.  But, what cinematic ride to take in the meantime.

I love, love love movies, watching them and discussing them...thus the birth of The Curvy Film Critic!!! Host/Producer/FilmCritic,Carla Renata is a member of such esteemed organizations as Critics Choice Association (Co-President Documentary Branch and Board Member), African American Film Critics Association and Online Association of Female Film Critics. My op-eds or features have been seen in Variety , RogerEbert.com, The Wrap The Cherry Picks, as well as being a frequent Guest Contributor to Fox 11-LA, Good Day LA, ET Live!, Turner Classic Movies, The Cherry Picks, The Stream Team (Beond TV) ITV, Fox Soul's The Black Report, The ListTV and more. Catch my reviews on The Curvy Critic with Carla Renata - LIVE!!! Sundays 5pm PST via You Tube or Facebook Live. If you like what you read please shout me out and subscribe to The Curvy Critic on YouTube. You can chat with me across all social media platforms @TheCurvyCritic and as always, thanks for supporting a sista'

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