Emily the Criminal

Aubrey Plaza scores in her strongest dramatic turn yet as a young woman with major student debt and a minor criminal record whose limited job options lead her into the shady side hustle of credit card fraud. John Patton Ford’s debut feature is a tight little indie with a well-researched script that takes us into a fascinating corner of the underworld in a way that's exciting and thematically timely without feeling heavy-handed. The lean production misses one or two opportunities for character development that a larger budget might have enabled, but in a climate of generic disposable thrillers, this is a welcome surprise.