Emily the Criminal (CREDIT: Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment)

Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Theo Rossi, Megalyn Echikunwoke

Director: John Patton Ford

Running Time: 93 Minutes

Rating: R for A Few Nose-Bloodying Encounters

Release Date: August 12, 2022 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Emily Benetto (Aubrey Plaza) is an aspiring artist who has the chops and the connections to make a real professional go at it. But she’s a young adult in the 21st century, so it’s no surprise that she’s also tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. Her gig delivering food orders is hardly making a dent. Ergo, she dips her toe into a scheme as a “dummy shopper,” in which she buys high-value goods with stolen credit cards for an underground operation. And she’s kind of good at it! But when you commit to a criminal lifestyle, you’ve also got to always be looking over your shoulder.

What Made an Impression?: I’m on vacation this week, but I wanted to make sure I checked in for a sec to give you my quick thoughts about Emily the Criminal. The One Big Thought I had was that the dummy shopper recruitment method kind of reminded me of a curse being passed on a la The Ring or It Follows. The colleague who gives Emily the tip seems like he’s ready to get out of  the game, you know? But ultimately, Emily kind of embraces it and we get the sense that maybe she’ll be running her own mini-empire soon enough. So in that way, it’s more like a multi-level marketing scheme. You find empowerment where you can when you’ve got all that debt.

Grade: 3 out of 5 Credit Cards