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‘Finding Emily’: A Cute, Bizarre British Rom-Com

Good evening, all.

For today’s Cinematic Review-Verse post, I’m discussing Finding Emily starring Angourie Rice and Spike Fearn.


Photo of ‘Finding Emily’ poster taken at AMC Garden State 16. Taken by William Edward Beavers, V.


In Finding Emily, an English twentysomething named Owen, played by Fearn, was working as a sound engineer at a student union bar when he encountered a charming girl named Emily dressed in a fairy costume. Though they laughed and danced and Emily gave him her number, Owen couldn’t reach her and began a bizarre quest to reconnect with her, with some assistance by American psychology student Emily Raine, played by Rice.

Spike Fearn as Owen, and Angourie Rice as Emily Raine in ‘Finding Emily.’ Courtesy of Focus Features and IMDb.com.

It was actually a pretty cute movie. It was predictable that in trying to solve this quest, Owen and Emily fell in love. But it was great how he was able to make her laugh and believe in love again after falling out with a guy named Tristan, played by Timothy Innes, and how Emily got Owen his own confidence back.

The bizarre part came when, with Emily's hacking help, Owen tried finding his girl by emailing over 300 other Emily's. I can’t say I’ve seen someone willing to upset cybersecurity to get the girl. 

Then by the time the original girl finally showed, whose real name was Amelie, the chemistry had dwindled and Owen and Emily connected. They went to a concert at a bar and Owen shredded the guitar and Emily Raine began to realize her feelings.

Sadly, Owen discovered Emily was using him as a test subject in her psychology thesis, and that led to a little heartbreak, but Emily poured out her heart in her thesis to start over with him towards the end of the film. 

I liked Finding Emily. It was like Sleepless in Seattle among other romcoms. I didn’t realize the first time I saw Fearn was when he played Emma Mackey’s character’s younger brother in the political comedy-drama Ella McCay last winter, and the last time I saw Rice was when she was the new, musically-inclined Cady Heron. What I'm getting at is I liked the chemistry between the two and the fresh take on the troubles of true love in young adulting. 

I give the movie an 8/10. It was one of those predictable-type deals told well with great chemistry between the leads, modern issues such as cybersecurity, and great pop rock songs in the soundtrack. Thank you to all the cast and crew, and thank you readers of The Cinematic Review-Verse.

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