You got to know where to look. (CREDIT: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2026 FOCUS FEATURES LLC)
Starring: Spike Fearn, Angourie Rice, Minnie Driver, Sadie Soverall, Cora Kirk, Jack Riddiford, Isabella Laughland, Yali Topol Margalith, Kat Ronney, Phil Wang, Timothy Innes, Nadia Parkes, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Amber Grappy, Anthony J. Abraham, Scarlett-Mai Grant, Faye Campbell, Tash Major, Carl Blakeley, Julia Rogers, Trudy Akobeng, Fiona Allen, Toby Rothwell, Dalu Thebe, Emily Ash, Nathan Foad, Hannah Greensmith, Harry Trevaldwyn
Director: Alicia MacDonald
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Rating: PG-13 for A Few Crude Moments
Release Date: August 28, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: Owen Brompton (Spike Fearn) isn’t a university student, but he does spend a lot of time at the (fictional) Manchester City University. That’s because he’s working as a sound engineer at a student union bar, where one night he has a whirlwind encounter with a cute girl dressed as a fairy. Sparks fly enough for her to give him his phone number, but she mistypes it. With just a name to go on, he tries to track down the mysterious Emily all across campus. That’s how he ends up meeting psychology student Emily Raine (Angourie Rice), who’s not Fairy Emily. But she is happy to spend plenty of time with him, because she’s working on a thesis about how romantic love is a kind of self-sabotaging madness, and she sees in Owen the perfect case study. She encourages him to email everyone named Emily enrolled at the school, which makes Owen’s story go viral and unites many of the Emilys over concerns about how their privacy has been breached. Meanwhile, Owen and Emily Raine are getting closer and closer, but the deception underlying all of their interactions is just waiting to be fully exposed.
What Made an Impression?: A Hopeful Romantic: Finding Emily could be quite the star-making turn for Spike Fearn (even though I imagine that American audiences will only be able to understand about 50-75% of his dialogue through his thick English accent). He plays Owen as a thoroughly sweet fellow who doesn’t quite understand why he gets so much guff from the world around him. You get the sense that he’s been unlucky in love because he’s perhaps overly focused on the superficial aspects of romance. But he’s more self-aware and thoughtful than he’s often given credit for, making him the sort of person you can easily open up to. Also, he’s quite the musician.
Somehow It Works: What about our other lead sparring partner? Well, Angourie Rice has quite the knack for being charming despite playing such a frequently dishonest character. (More on that deception in a bit.) Emily R. is also just so casually cruel and thoughtless to those around her that it’s a wonder that we can still be on our side. It helps that Rice always make sure that we can see the anxiety surrounding her efforts to keep her best self alive.
Taking the Bait: Among Finding Emily‘s sprawling cast, I want to highlight Nadia Parkes as the host of a podcast focusing on gossipy campus news. She shamelessly dives right into a role that’s all about manipulative pot-stirring. It makes you want to go, “Girl, if you want to deliver the news, do some actual reporting.”
A Silly Streak: Real quick, I’ve got to mention that this movie is happy to provide some playfully naughty humor. That’s epitomized by a scene involving a buttocks-shaped apology cake. And yes, there is chocolate lurking beneath the surface once you poke through.
A Therapeutic Assessment: As you can imagine given the billing and the nature of this genre, it’s Emily Raine and not Fairy Emily whose destiny is magnetized in Owen’s direction. But can a healthy relationship possibly emerge after beginning with such heavy deception? It all builds towards a grand romantic gesture that is actually low-key by rom-com standards, but still kind of overwhelming by real life standards. It’s meant as a genuine apology more than just a declaration of love, which is nice, but what Owen really wants more than anything is for people to be honest with him. Ultimately, I think the happy resolution works according to cinematic logic, but with the caveat that this situation ought to be handled a little bit differently should you ever find yourself in a similar conflict. So enjoy Finding Emily for all of the joy that it offers, but meet it with skepticism when that’s warranted.
Finding Emily is Recommended If You Like: Space for redemption, Conversing with cynicism, Questionable Freudian references
Grade: 4 out of 5 Emilys
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