Written by Rachel Hirons and directed by Alicia MacDonald, Finding Emily follows a lovesick young man on a mission to reunite with his dream girl. Teaming up with a cynical exchange student, the pair find themselves caught up in a whirlwind of chaos that has them both questioning the paths they’re running down.
Owen (Spike Fearn), a twenty-something musician, is practically sleepwalking through his life when a chance moment in the student union bar completely knocks his world off axis. Emily was dressed as a fairy, and Owen is immediately besotted with her beauty and charisma. The pair dance, banter, and at the end of it all Emily gives Owen her number – minus one digit.
Missing the crucial puzzle piece to seeing her again, Owen abandons his dignity at the university campus doors and attempts to track her down. In the process he meets another Emily (Angourie Rice), an American exchange student struggling to complete her psychology dissertation on the insanity of love. Thrown, yet intrigued by Owen’s brainless optimism, Emily decides to use him as a case study under the pretense of helping him find his lost love.
Predictability, good and secretive intentions go awry. As Owen and Emily attempt to find Owen’s fairy-goddess, Owen finds himself at the centre of unwanted and often aggressive attention, targeted by the ire of the campus social justice squad made almost entirely of other Emilys. While Owen struggles to manage his newfound infamy, Emily must wrestle with her conscience and shifting perceptions of love; feelings that threaten to derail her academic ambitions. With a scholarship, employment, and social pariah-ship on the horizon, the lines between friendship, affection, and ethics become increasingly blurred as Owen and Emily begin to grow closer.
In case you’ve forgotten, we are well and truly in a romcom renaissance (you can quote me on this, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again). While watching Finding Emily, I was struck by how comfortingly familiar the movie felt. If it weren’t for the conversations around toxic masculinity, podcasts, and the like, I would have sworn this film was made more than ten years ago. Considering they don’t have much more than some TV shows and short films credited to their names, MacDonald and Hirons have managed to create a knockout feature that feels like the work of a much more established team.
Filmed on location in Manchester and supported by a soundtrack peppered with local acts like Blossoms, The Durutti Column, and Black Grape, with features from global hit-makers like Carly Rae Jepsen and Scissor Sisters, Finding Emily has a truly nostalgic feel to it. From the red brick terrace house that Owen lives in, to the bars, clubs, and late-night takeaways, nothing about this film feels far-fetched or out of reach. Weirdly, it felt like a movie I’d seen a million times before in the best way; from the moment it started to the second it ended, I knew that this was a movie that I could happily watch over and over again.
Spike Fearn, who looks like an uncanny clone of the Gallagher brothers, is so delightfully earnest as Owen that despite the almost insane lengths he goes to in his hunt for his dream Emily, it never feels problematic. Maybe it’s the way he fervently talks about the way his infatuation made him feel or the way he frets over his dilemma of not knowing how to find his Emily, but Fearn plays Owen in a way that is so endearing, you can’t help but root for him, even when his exploits are undeniably insane.
Australia’s Angourie Rice, whose star has been gradually rising with supporting roles in the Spider-Man films and the lead role of Cady Heron in 2024’s ‘Mean Girls’ musical movie adaptation, brings a layered performance to her Emily that is more nuanced than you’d expect for a movie as formulaic as Finding Emily. Rice’s Emily is sardonic, sarcastic, and cradling a hurt that she’s not as good at hiding as she thinks she is. And despite her deception towards Owen, the way Rice gradually cracks Emily open to expose her wounds makes it so difficult to hold a grudge against her.
Can you see exactly where Finding Emily is heading? Yeah, of course, but the predictably in no way detracts from its charm. The character growth feels natural, the misadventures remain hilarious, and the outcome feels like a hard-earned reward. Finding Emily, in spite of its connect-the-dots plot, is unquestionably one of the most enjoyable films of the year.
Finding Emily is in cinemas nationwide from May 21st.