Director
Alicia MacDonald

Starring
Angourie Rice, Spike Fearn and Minnie Driver

There’s a very specific kind of romantic comedy that knows it’s cheesy, leans into the chaos anyway, and somehow scores some wins through sheer sincerity. Finding Emily is that kind of movie, a messy, funny, emotionally awkward Gen Z romcom that feels both modern and comfortingly old-school.

Directed by Alicia MacDonald and starring Angourie Rice and Spike Fearn, the film follows Owen, a musician who meets a girl named ‘Emily’ at a university party, only to discover she accidentally gave him the wrong number. What begins as a harmless attempt to track her down spirals into a campus-wide social media phenomenon involving hundreds of Emilys, viral memes, and one deeply complicated psychology student who may be studying Owen as much as helping him.

The premise sounds ridiculous on paper, but the film smartly understands how romance operates in the age of TikTok, screenshots, and public humiliation. Owen’s increasingly desperate search turns him into “email guy,” a walking meme whose sincerity is constantly mistaken for creepiness. The screenplay by Rachel Hirons has a sharp eye for the exhausting performance of modern dating culture, where even grand romantic gestures are instantly filtered through irony.

The chemistry between Rice and Fearn gives Owen an earnest vulnerability that keeps the character from becoming pathetic, while Rice delivers some of the film’s best deadpan comedy as the psychology student Emily, whose cynical worldview slowly begins to crack. Their dynamic feels less like a traditional romcom pairing and more like two anxious people accidentally stumbling into emotional honesty. The one detractor in this is Fearn’s mumblecore delivery that at times feels incomprehensible. He has a level of charm but isn’t exactly ‘swoon-worthy’ as a result.

Visually, the film is also far more stylish than its pastel marketing suggests. Manchester becomes a glowing, rain-soaked playground of pubs, student bars, and neon-lit streets, giving the movie an energy that feels alive rather than manufactured. The soundtrack, full of indie pop and live music, adds another layer of charm.

That said, Finding Emily occasionally struggles under the weight of its own concept. Some supporting performances are broader than necessary, and the film’s satire of internet pile-ons can feel slightly repetitive by the final act. There’s also a tonal wobble when the story digs deeper into Emily’s ethically questionable manipulation of Owen for academic research; the film brushes past consequences a little too easily.

Still, the movie’s warmth ultimately outweighs its flaws. It’s funny without being smug, romantic without pretending modern love is simple, and self-aware without collapsing into cynicism. In an era where many romantic comedies either imitate the past or mock the genre entirely, Finding Emily manages to feel hopeful. It’s by no means a perfect film, or indeed a perfect romantic comedy, but in landscape so sparsely littered with the genre, I’ll happily take what I can get.

FINDING EMILY is in cinemas now.