Finding Emily review: Sweet, heartwarming romcom
Although he hasn’t been in many films, Spike Fearn‘s performances have been so good that he made an impression and made me want to watch his next projects. In his latest film, Finding Emily, he gets to flex his romantic comedy muscles and is a delight to watch.
Set in Manchester, Fearn plays Owen, a musician who makes a living as a sound engineer at the university’s student union bar. One night, he meets the girl of his dreams – Emily (the classic Manic Pixie Dream Girl) – and she gives him her number before leaving. Unfortunately, she missed a digit so Owen can’t contact her. Was this a genuine mistake or a deliberate ploy because she wasn’t interested?
The lovesick Owen tries everything to find his Emily, but with only a first name to go on and more than 300 Emilys at the university, it’s an impossible task. One particular Emily (Angourie Rice), an American psychology student, decides to befriend Owen and help him find Emily, not out of the goodness of her heart but because she needs a case study to support her thesis that love makes people crazy and exhibit self-sabotaging behaviour. Owen doesn’t know that part, of course.
Despite its modern setting, Finding Emily really reminded me of the ’90s romcoms I grew up with, where the friendship/relationship begins under false pretences, like a bet, but it eventually turns into something real. You know exactly where this movie will end up once American Emily enters the picture, but the journey to reach the end goal is charming, fun and enjoyable. Rice and Fearn have excellent platonic chemistry, their characters and dynamic are written very well, and the film’s soundtrack (including new music from Blossoms) is top-notch.
It doesn’t play out exactly as you’d expect either. Once his dogged pursuit of Emily becomes news on campus, Owen is painted as a bad guy – branded with labels like sex pest, incel, rapist. Did he go too far? Or is he just a cringe, hopeless romantic? Also, why is any sincere positive emotion considered cringe in today’s society? It poses a really interesting debate about what’s acceptable behaviour nowadays and accurately depicts what today’s news cycle looks like, where journalists and content creators share their hot take (or make parodies and songs) on the topic because it’s trending. It becomes a pile-on that Owen can’t escape.
It’s refreshing to see a romantic comedy starring a normal-looking guy. Fearn’s Owen is sweet and kind-hearted and you can’t help but be charmed by him and his thoughts on romance. Rice plays a complicated character who makes very questionable decisions but she navigates it well and makes it as grounded and believable as possible.
Finding Emily, from the producers of Bridget Jones’s Diary, is absolutely lovely. We need more movies like this!
In cinemas from Friday 22nd May