‘Finding Emily’ Review – A Charming Romance That Finds What’s Been Missing In Rom-Coms

“Love is a state of temporary psychosis.”  

Sigmund Freud’s words open the film Finding Emily, giving us a small tease of the seemingly psychoanalytic riverboat ride through Gen Z romance. What might have been cringe-inducing or borderline insufferable is anything but. This rom-com wears it on its sleeve, while staying refreshing and smart. And like any gem of this kind, the chemistry between its leads is more than a science; it’s, well, movie magic!

By this point, the rom-com is dated. Well, maybe that’s unfair. It’s been so reconstituted that it makes re-heats look pleasant. So when one comes along that is a unique spin on a tried-and-true formula, I have to shout it from the rooftops. Or, at the minimum, hold it up triumphantly like John Cusack holding a boombox to get everyone’s attention. Finding Emily is a real gem. 

 In a typical meet-cute fashion, a boy meets a girl. Here, Owen (Spike Fearn) works at a student union bar at a university in Manchester, England. One fine evening, he meets a girl at the bar. They laugh, dance, flirt, and she gives him her number. However, when he ends up missing some digits, Owen becomes determined to find his dream girl. Teaming up with Emily Raines (Angourie Rice), a psychology student, he begins a campus-wide search for the girl he met only once, also named Emily. The search for the dream girl sparks hilarity, reputational scandal, and, of course, romance.  

Part of the comedy comes from the fact that Owen only knows his dream girl’s name. From there, he goes on a quest to find out which of the 318 Emilys in a school of over 40,000 students is the one he believes he connected with. He tacks up ‘wanted posters’ and approaches a random class on a hunch that he is about to reunite with Emily. However, the Emily he meets is not his dream, but instead Emily, the psychology student. On a parallel track, she has her own ambitions that overlap with Owen’s romantic odyssey. 

Emily is on the cusp of finishing her thesis. She is working on a hypothesis that aligns closely with Freud’s thinking, believing love is nothing more than an evolutionary hangover and pointless human impulse. In meeting Owen, she secretly makes him her case study, and of course, shenanigans unfold. 

 Owen embarks with Emily’s help, but e-mails every student named Emily in the university roster. Of course, some willingness to toss logic out the proverbial window is necessary, but that is part of the magic of any good rom-com. The e-mail stunt lands Owen in hot water and forces him to walk a tightrope between romantic and pariah. In a satirical flex, the story offers a cheeky commentary on the nature of dating in our modern, insta-social world. The question of boundaries, ethical and moral lines, is treated in a heightened sense, in part because the film prioritizes reclaiming the good guy mantle for Owen.

Owen is up front about his shortcomings and even addresses his missteps. The familiar themes of yearning and finding love in the unexpected still appear, but part of what feels fresh is that the characters are well written.

The characters are what we’d expect in a rom-com, but every beat feels sincere, even when archetypes are present. We have our leads, surrounded by the lovable friends and family types. And while we expect these characters, no one winks at the camera or acts like they’re in a rom-com; everything feels genuine and heartfelt. 

Both Rice and Fearn totally and completely click. They play subtle cues in the will they/won’t they angle, and we in the audience root because their chemistry has that Say Anything, When Harry Met Sally vibe that gives us all the feels and makes us believe in the tried-and-true power of love. Both have genuine moments of comedy, play into the absurd, and still offer an enjoyable quest to find love. 

Now, Finding Emily does not break new ground in the rom-com territory, but it does manage to unearth a charm that is lacking in a lot of the genre entries. Nothing is sickeningly sweet or nauseatingly sentimental. Nor is it sterile and emotionally vacant. Part of the story’s charm is how it takes a clever spin on modern dating social norms. It never preaches or becomes a clunky Hallmark-style message. 

This movie sparkles as a wonderful throwback to hits like Notting Hill, but it stays balanced and in step with modern sensibilities. It knows when to pull on the heartstrings, when to punch it up for a laugh, and when to strike tender, even thought-provoking moments that make the film the total package. 

Nostalgia is often a misstep, particularly in the rom-com territory. Too much and it becomes a clunky treasure that sinks rather than floats. Finding Emily is more than about finding Emily, but it finds something missing from the modern rom-com: Romance. These films need not be an over-sprinkled, oversaturated dessert, nor something lacking any zip and panache, that they present like a stuffed-shirt lecture. 

Rom-coms should be zany, which this one is. They should have heart; this one has. They should be fun; this one warms the heart and tickles the funny bone. Above all, a rom-com should deliver that wild, frustrating, maddening, but still necessary good, old-fashioned, happy ending. Finding Emily finds all the above and, in the process, refinds and refurbishes the genre.

Finding Emily is currently playing exclusively in theaters courtesy of Focus Features. 

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