Finding Emily (2026 | UK/US | 110 minutes | Alicia MacDonald)
Owen (Spike Feam) is a bit of a sad sack romantic perpetually being dumped by his “true love”. With hearts still in his eyes and an ever hopeful view of love, he’s struck dumb by a woman at a club one night and after a heady time talking about nothing and flirting their hearts out, he got her phone number. He barely catches her first name (Emily of course) and that she goes to Manchester U as friends dragged her off into the night. He tried calling the next day, but the number was one digit short and so began the search for Emily. Desperate to find any clue to her identity after many failed attempts, he finds psychology major Emily (Angourie Rice) who is not the one he seeks but vows to help him none the less while hiding an agenda of her own.
If you like rom-coms you’ll probably enjoy this light-hearted romp through Manchester. It doesn’t get deep into any painful pasts (though it could have at least a little) and invites us along to watch Owen & Emily’s love blossom. Sound pretty stereotypical? Knowing that this was produced by the same folks that did Bridget Jones Diary makes a ton of sense and falls right into line with what we experienced through Bridget’s eyes; at least this time they avoided the painfully embarrassing moments. Frustratingly Finding Emily brushes against quite a few ideas but doesn’t land on any one of them other than the surface-level love that forms between the two protagonists.
First there was the tantrum-throwing Emily (Kat Ronney) who was head of student council. She finds Owen’s tactic of emailing every Emily at the university invasive and borderline stalking. Then there’s Anna (Cora Kirk) the YouTuber who aspires to legitimate news bringing Owen onto her show for ratings and to question him on his methods. Finally there’s tag-a-long Emily who believes love is fake and is deadset to prove it through (completely unscientific) study of Owen’s irrationally behavior going out of his way to find love-at-first-sight. The problem with these characters is they were all caricatures of real people. Student council Emily was acting like a screeching animal every time she was on screen with extra makeup to intensify her actions and look. She’s saddled with “over the top feminist” but really she just wants to protect the rights of the women at her school, herself included. The YouTuber was made out to be this huntress and opportunist looking for pray to feed on so she could get ratings, the more salacious the better. In reality the questions she asked were poignant and while her personality was a bit overbearing, again she just wanted to the truth.
Lastly, and most formulaic of all, protagonist Emily was abandoned by her father at a young age. We only find this out through a single throw-away line early-ish in the film and was obviously added to show us that she’s got daddy issues. Why else would she think love is unnecessary for a happy life and just a chemical reaction? Heaven forbid a woman not find hetero-normative romance the end all and be all of her existence. Sorry folks, I’m kind of done with women who are given the opportunity to be strong and self-sufficient, but instead give up everything they’ve worked so hard for in an instant in the name of love. It’s vapid, unsustainable and works really really well in movies to give us a nice little dopamine hit. It plays into the fantasy and hope that we find someone we feel so strongly for, changing our lives forever. Love and keeping true to yourself should work hand in hand, not be a choice between one or the other.
Again, if you like rom-coms because they’re light, easy and end up happy, then this will be a good time for you. I, on the other hand, have a hard time with such an obvious “shrew turned goony-eyed lover-girl” storyline.
Finding Emily arrives in theaters on 8/28