Emily the Criminal · reception & legacy

2022 · John Patton Ford

How Emily the Criminal has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A buzzy Sundance 2022 debut that got glowing reviews but a quiet theatrical run — then blew up when it hit Netflix that December, topping the charts and getting rediscovered as one of the year's best sleepers, right in the middle of Aubrey Plaza's White Lotus-fuelled career surge.

What's debated

The evergreen gripe among fans is the awards snub — that Plaza's ferocious dramatic turn deserved Oscar-season attention and proved once and for all she's far more than her deadpan comedy persona.

Its footprint

Its job-interview confrontation scenes — Emily refusing to be shamed for her past and torching an unpaid-internship offer — are endlessly clipped and shared as anti-hustle-culture anthems, making it the go-to 'millennial debt rage' movie.

Where it stands

A Letterboxd-era sleeper favourite: the scrappy indie thriller people push on friends with 'trust me, just watch it,' and Exhibit A in the case for Serious Actress Aubrey Plaza.

★ Did you know? Writer-director John Patton Ford left AFI with about $93,000 in student debt that he says 'ran my whole life' — and he actually lowered Emily's debt to $70,000 in the script because his real number felt unbelievable. Plaza loved the screenplay so much she signed on as a producer, not just the star.

Named by the director

Influences John Patton Ford has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne — Ford cited the Dardennes' documentary-rooted, single-shot-per-scene style as a foundational influence on the film's look.
Jacques Audiard — Ford said his guiding question for the film's style was 'if Jacques Audiard were in his thirties and lived in LA, what kind of movie would he make?'
Michael Mann — Ford named Mann alongside Audiard as a big influence, part of the lineage of filmmakers who built on the Dardennes' approach.
Straight Time (1978) — Ford pointed to the Dustin Hoffman crime drama as one of the classic character-driven crime films he drew on.
Taxi Driver (1976) — Ford cited it among the gritty 70s character studies that shaped the film.
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) — Ford said he wanted to channel the energy of Cassavetes' loose, lived-in crime picture.