52 Films by Women Vol 10. 22. FINDING EMILY (Director: Alicia MacDonald)
Working Title’s
latest romantic comedy, Finding
Emily, written by Rachel Hirons
(Powder Room, A Guide to
Second Date Sex) and directed
by Alicia MacDonald (her debut), does not have that ‘disaster movie’ vibe. Nor
is it an ensemble comedy. When a character is stuck – and this occurs to both
leads - a supporting character plays loud music, demanding a response. Finding Emily isn’t exactly romantic either, dealing in
part with the gatekeepers who adjudicate against a man trying to reconnect with
a woman, the Emily of the title. In the world of the film, an honest mistake is
interpreted as ‘dead numbering’. The quest to find the ‘missing’ Emily leads to
censure. The film’s nominal protagonist, Owen (Spike Fearn) has to prove that
he’s not a creep or a coercive controller. Standing next to a bartender, Rhea (Amber
Grappy), Owen explains he is in a relationship with her but ‘didn’t make her
wear the shirt’ that proclaims that she likes women.
At the start of the
film, Owen meets a student dressed as a fairy (Sadie Soverall) in the men’s
toilets and offers her his metal straw after first failing to open her bottle
of beer. Owen is a sound engineer who works in the Student Union bar of
Manchester City University. The pair chat and dance before she leaves with a
friend to go to a party on Canal Street. At the end of their encounter, Owen
asks for her name and number. She types the latter into his phone. When he
sends her a message the next day, needled by his older brother Matt (Jack
Riddiford), he discovers that it is one digit short. Determined not to miss out
on the chance of reconnecting with her and understanding that after three days
the initial connection reaches its ‘use by’ date and becomes invalid, Owen
begins his chaotic search, pleading with the university’s administrator (Fiona
Allen) who threatens to call security and placing posters in the hope of
catching her attention.
Happily for Owen, a
student tells him the name of an Emily on his course, the American Emily Raine
(Angourie Rice). Emily is the film’s actual protagonist, jaded after the end of
her relationship with the handsome but emotionally insensitive Tristan (Timothy
Innes), who is most likely to confront her with a bruising truth and add, ‘you
don’t mind, do you?’ Emily was left with a tattoo of ‘e.t.’ on her right index
finger as a memento of private heartache. A psychology student, she has latched
onto the idea that romantic love is a state of temporary psychosis (comment:
not sure about the temporary bit) and that those who project love on others are
doomed to self-sabotage. She’s cynical. Moreover, she never mentions desire; Finding Emily is rated 12a in the UK. The only use for an
intimacy coordinator is in choreographing a metal cap being removed from a
bottle with a set of teeth. At Manchester City University, we see women
partying in large groups and jumping to conclusions.
Owen lures Emily out
of her class through deception, that he has a message from her father. ‘Is it,
where has he been for the twenty-one years of my life?’ she asks. Owen owns up
to his ruse straight away but continues to elicit Emily’s attention when he
puts up posters (on pink paper) around campus. After her research group fails
to disclose any signs of mania, helping themselves instead to the biscuits and
agreeing with each other, Emily fixates on Owen as her sole case study, a young
man obsessed with the ‘manic pixie dream girl’ of his (cis) white imagination.
‘Frida Kahlo,’ Owen
cries at one point, having identified Emily’s friend from the night of the
Student Union disco. The student doesn’t respond. The film makes a convincing
case that modern relationships amongst the so-called Gen Z, young people born
after the year 2000, require external validation. Conversations are only the
second phase of building a relationship. With Emily’s help, Owen sends a
message to the 318 Emilys on campus, exploiting an address list to which he
ordinarily has no legal access (General Data Protection Regulations refer), but
he neglects to use ‘bcc’, inviting them to write to one another. This in turn
incenses the Head of the Student Union, Emily Thewlis (Kat Ronney), otherwise
known as scary Scottish Emily, who protests to the Dean (Minnie Driver) about a
breach of privacy and a threat to female students’ personal security.
Emily Thewlis is
partially presented as a figure of fun, manufacturing outrage when most other
Emilys feel amusement or indifference. However, the film doesn’t present her as
a delusional antagonist. This is a film that doesn’t shame those who exploit
Owen’s search, apart from Emily Raine, whose motives are exposed much later on.
The film’s perspective is provided by internet commentators, many of whom don’t
attend the university, who voice their opinions to camera on a TikTok-type
feed.
Owen attempts to buy
information from the bar staff of venues on Canal Street, which leads to him spending
£125 (not £90 as Emily thought, ‘one of them took card’). The gay community is
presented as offering a safe space for women to enjoy themselves, another
gateway for cis men to fail to negotiate. They are not the butt of the joke,
rather celebrated for their flamboyant floorshows. Owen’s email leads to a
visual flourish - his home being filled with Emilys reading and responding to
his email all at the same time. Owen’s response is to appear on the University
Radio Programme, ‘Laura Lewis Live’, hosted by a student (Nadia Parkes) who is
determined to boost her programme’s ubiquity. When Owen helps himself to a
banana in her studio, she tells him it is her lunch. Owen re-seals it and
returns it to her plate.
Throughout the film,
there is an obvious class difference between Owen and the students. He didn’t
enrol for further education and lives in a house that Matt and his partner
Freya (Isabella Laughland) are trying to sell. Owen and Matt’s mother died
almost a year ago. Owen quit playing in a band and is mostly in a sulky state.
His encounter with fairy Emily perks him up, even more than the bonus from his
job, four free soft drinks vouchers per night. Owen and Matt are presented as
versions of the Gallagher brothers from the band ‘Oasis’. They tease and scrap
as if twelve years old. Owen impresses Emily Raine with his musical performance
on the podcast, after admitting that he is no creep. His admission that ‘I’ve
seen a pair of tits’ is less impressive. His homage to the golden age of
Britpop earns him a few fans on social media. Twenty Emilys email him back
insisting they are the one. However, during the interview, which is screened
live and turns Owen into a celebrity of sorts, he is asked how he got the email
addresses. Rather than expose Emily Raine, he tells Laura that he hacked the
system. The false admission has repercussions.
Pictured: Mancunian sound engineer Owen (Spike Fearn) and American psychology student Emily Raine (Angourie Rice) team up to find the mysterious 'Emily' in the British romantic comedy 'Finding Emily', written by Rachel Hirons and directed by Alicia MacDonald. Still courtesy of Universal Pictures.
A number of
supporting characters act as commentators, including Emily’s supervisor,
Professor Westlake (Prasanna Puwanarajah), who objects when Emily starts looking
through his car, whilst updating on her thesis. He supports her application for
a research grant. His counterpoint is Owen’s boss, Martin (Phil Wang) who
badgers Owen about his performance and tears down the poster Owen has placed in
the bar, describing the unidentified author as a loser. Emily’s best friend
Anna (Cora Kirk) expresses scepticism about her approach. Owen thinks that
Emily is helping him, not using him to prove a point. The friends argue while Emily
is in a queue at the cafeteria where Anna works. The customers agree that Emily
should leave.
In a moment of
despondency, Owen walks to the Peak District and cries in a field. Matt
collects him. On the drive back, he plays ‘Wordy Rappinghood’ by the Tom Tom
Club, insisting that Owen join in. In a corresponding scene, Anna raises Emily
from the sofa by playing drum and bass, forcing her to dance.
Owen proves to Emily
that he is a good friend, contradicting Tristan when he criticises Emily’s meal
of French fries and coleslaw. ‘Really good, actually’, he tells him. He also
joins a band on stage and briefly plays guitar, before a dancer elbows Emily in
the mouth; Owen jumps off stage to be with her. However, while walking along a
tow path with Emily, Owen receives an unexpected message.
The resolution of
Owen’s search is necessarily disappointing. It leads to the generic scene of
Owen calling on Emily Raine and discovering the truth about her dissertation.
After being roused by her flat mate, and focussing on her own self-sabotage,
Emily decides to appear on Laura Lewis’ podcast.
Finding Emily never elicits the belly laughs of Richard
Curtis’ output. However, it entertains and brings to a tear to the eye at the
end. With the exception of Professor Westlake, it does not take the doubters to
task. Romantic love exists within a value system in which those who prove their
worth receive a just reward. In that quest, the lovers – and by extension the
film – have to prove what is ‘unworthy’, in particular the media’s role in
rushing to judgment. A caption tells us that Laura Lewis is pitching an
eight-part series to Netflix based on the story. This doesn’t amount to satire.
Films rely so heavily on social media promotion that comedies dare not be too
critical of it. So it is with Finding
Emily, which grossed a
disappointing £212,752 on its opening weekend, and has subsequently disappeared
from UK cinemas, eclipsed by the American independently produced horror film, Obsession, which has dominated social media film discourse since its release on 15
May 2026.
Reviewed at PictureHouse Central, Piccadilly Circus, London, Saturday 18 April 2026 (‘PictureHouse Creates’ Preview) and Cineworld Ashford, Kent, Saturday 30 May 2026, 12:30pm screening
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