Sundance Review: Aubrey Plaza In ‘Emily The Criminal’ - Deadline

The kicker is that Emily doesn’t even want the job; she’s a talented artist who dropped out of college because she couldn’t pay the spiraling fees, which are now at $70,000.

That’s one of the many moral questions the film poses, and one that Emily breezes.

Emily is a natural, and though Ford’s film is never as flashy as Michael Mann’s Thief or Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, both of which must surely be references for this city noir, it does elicit the same amphetamine rush, notably in a scene in which Emily takes ownership of a hot car.

But while writer-director Ford doesn’t insult us with clichés about kick-ass heroines, he does give us a deceptively rich script that explains where Emily has come to—and where she will go, ensuring a satisfying ending that, while dark, doesn’t feel too sugar-coated.

Questioned on her attitude by the fabulously snooty Gina Gershon, who’s expecting her to take an unpaid internship, Emily speaks for a lot of job-seekers when she says, “If you want to tell me what to do, put me on the f*cking payroll.”