Finding Emily – Movie Review

Wearing a nostalgic 1990s rom-com sentiment on its sleeve, and weaponising a whole lot of British charm, Alicia MacDonald’s feature film debut Finding Emily is a sweet and energetic flick that explores all the crazy things we can do in the name of finding love.

The story follows an optimistic and charismatic, but struggling musician named Owen (Spike Fearn), who falls head-over-heels for a girl he meets in a nightclub. As the night goes on and they are about to go their separate paths, Spike shoots his shot at getting her phone number, only to find the next morning when he tries to contact her that the number she gave is a digit short. Determined to find the girl he only knows as “Emily”, Owen begins a chaotic and love-driven search at the local university, capturing the attention of the entire faculty. Especially psychology student, a different Emily (Angourie Rice), who with a reluctant cynicism agrees to help Owen find Emily, but with an ulterior motive in mind – to write her thesis about the delusional pursuit of love.

Finding Emily gets both of the critical elements of the romantic-comedy genre very right. Owen’s delusionally relentless pursuit of “Emily”, even with all of the insane and chaotic ideas he comes up with throughout the story to find her, is unbelievably romantic, sweet and charming, mainly due to an incredibly charismatic and innocent performance from Spike Fearn. Fearn brings a Northerner charm to Owen – accent, mannerisms, energy, and all – that from the opening moments is wonderfully electric, making it impossible not to root for the guy to find his girl. And the rapid-fire, British-edged comedy is apparent from the get-go. Not only are the aforementioned “ideas” that Owen comes up with very funny, but his initial encounter with “Emily” in a nightclub bathroom is a hilarious opening scene that sets the entertaining tone of the film from the get go.

Another two elements that inject so much energy and life into the film is the way director Alicia MacDonald shoots Manchester, especially the vibrant nightlife, utilising real, tangible locations that don’t just immerse the audience into the film, but give a lot of character to the film itself. The soundtrack is also full of bangers. Music plays a big part of the film, with Owen being an up-and-coming musician himself, and how that weaves itself into his pursuit of love. However, the punk-rock, early 2000s soundtrack also brings a lot of energy to Finding Emily.

What sets Finding Emily apart from rom-coms of recent memory is that the relationship that forms between Owen and Rice’s Emily doesn’t lean into a forced romance. Even though the story can fall into some cliched genre tropes, it must be praised that the film doesn’t go down the path of enemies-to-lovers that can be seen far too often these days. In fact, their dynamic has many interesting layers to it as the hopefulness of Owen often clashes with the cynicism of Emily, while she harbours her secretive true intentions behind her desire to help Owen. Knowing Emily is ultimately wanting Owen to push his ideas of grand delusion to extreme levels in the name of “psychology” makes her a slightly diabolical, but interesting antagonist to Owen, but also leads to some sweet character development for both characters throughout the film.

The screenplay from Rachel Hirons also examines old school views on love through a modern lens. Owen’s relentless pursuit of Emily often comes to clash with 21st century ideologies in both hilarious and exploratively interesting ways. Watching Owen come under criticism, in very public fashion, for his actions brings another unique spin to the genre. However, Hiron’s script does unfortunately run out of those new ideas, and the exploration of them, in the second half of the film, leads down a few too many predictable paths. And even though the formula is tried and tested, it does feel like there was more potential for originality to close out the story than what was actually served.

It’s not often in the 2020s that rom-coms leave the realm of streaming for a cinematic venture. And when they do, they’re either risque, R-rated romps (which are also great), or glossy, fantastical depictions of Americanised romance (which also have their place). So, in saying that, Finding Emily has a wonderful, nostalgic, grounded take on romance that is as sweet as it is funny, and loaded to the brim with the British charm that made films like Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral so memorable.

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Finding Emily is in Australian cinemas May 21

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