Finding Emily
When a young Mancunian is wrong-numbered after a flirtatious encounter, he sets out to fill in the missing digit…
Psychosis, actually: Angourie Rice and Spike Fearn
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.
by JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
The question is: ‘does he actually find Emily?’ He himself is the gormless, possibly neurodivergent Owen Bromptom who meets the girl of his dreams in a Mancunian nightclub and, in twenty minutes, falls for her big time. There is a connection, or so he thinks, and after busting a groove on the dancefloor he asks for her number and her name. But there’s a glitch – when ‘Emily’ types in her number on his phone she misses out a digit. So, in order to renew the connection, Owen goes on an Emily quest – only to discover that there ae 318 Emilys at the university she attends…
The first Emily he finds, Emily Raines (Angourie Rice), is not the right one, and is actually an American student writing a thesis on the madness of romantic attachment. In fact, the film opens with the Sigmund Freud quote, “Love is a state of temporary psychosis.” As if… However, Psychosis Actually would be a misleading if vaguely appropriate monicker for this anti-romance that is just aching with love and affection. From the Mancunian setting to the roster of vivid supporting characters, Finding Emily just exhales a life-enhancing freshness.
The premise is irresistible. A young man with limited romantic experience makes a grand romantic gesture that goes viral when, with the help of his cynical American companion, he inadvertently emails the whole campus with his off-kilter declaration of love. Owen is not that up to scratch with modern technology and doesn’t even know what ‘Bcc’ means. And his American accomplice sees him as a fascinating case study for her thesis.
Meanwhile, more and more Emilys enter from the wings, with varying degrees of interest.
Obviously, we can all see where this is headed a mile off, but the trajectory could hardly be more circuitous or effervescent. As our loveable dreamer is repeatedly reevaluated on social media, both as sex pest and as sexy pest, Owen stumbles across the more attractive corners of Manchester to a set of uplifting, chart-topping singles (Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Scissor Sisters, Carly Rae Jepsen...). Spike Fearn is delightfully inarticulate and discombobulated as Owen, just on the right side of being exasperating, although the Sydney-born Angourie Rice doesn’t quite match up to his kitchen-sink reality. Even so, the film does deliver the goods, and the discourse, while consistently witty, doesn’t sound like scripted dialogue. When Owen says “a lot has happened since ‘first sight’,” it sounds like he just thought of it, whereas when American Emily says “better late than pregnant,” at least the joke is referenced. There are excellent turns, too, from Prasanna Puwanarajah as Emily Raines’ pompously eccentric professor, and Minnie Driver as the prim University Dean whose tricky tooth is currently preventing her use of a ball-gag.
It should be noted, too, that the director, writer, executive producers, composer and cinematographer are all female, which may account for the film’s relevance and zest.
Cast: Angourie Rice, Spike Fearn, Minnie Driver, Sadie Soverall, Ella Maisy Purvis, Cora Kirk, Jack Riddiford, Nadia Parkes, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Timothy Innes, Amber Grappy, Kat Ronney, Phil Wang, Isabella Laughland, Anthony J. Abraham, Fiona Allen, Clara Lioe, Yali Topol Margalith, Yasmin Paige, Harry Trevaldwyn.
Dir Alicia MacDonald, Pro Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Olivier Kaempfer, Ex Pro Cecilia Frugiuele, Alexandra Lowey, Angela Moneke and Thea Paulett, Screenplay Rachel Hirons, Ph Rachel Clark, Pro Des Bobbie Cousins, Ed Phil Hignett, Music Morgan Kibby, Costumes Sara Hassan, Sound Tom Jenkins, Dialect coach Jan Haydn Rowles.
Focus Features/Working Title Films-Universal Pictures.
110 mins. UK/USA. 2026. UK Rel: 22 May 2026. US Rel: 28 August 2026. Cert. 12A.
