Emily the Criminal (2022) is a modern movie that captures modern-day America. The main character “Fights The Power1” and reinvents herself, and the movie bucks trends and refuses the status quo. These are all things America does at its best.
The movie follows a young person (Emily, brilliantly played by Aubrey Plaza) who struggles and works hard to get ahead, only to go nowhere. She gets involved in credit card fraud to survive. It is a statement about the economic realities of today’s America that we all face, not just Emily.
The new Mount Rushmore: De Niro, Hoffman, Pacino, Plaza
Just like Taxi Driver (1976), Straight Time (1978), and Dog Day Afternoon (1975) brought gritty American realities to the screen in the 1970s, realities that we 99% could and can identify with, Emily the Criminal does the same, only 50 years later, and maybe most importantly, with a woman in the lead role.
Having a woman in the lead role in Emily the Criminal, a believable woman we can all relate to, is refreshing. Women did not play roles like Emily until recently, which is another reason the movie defines America: it speaks to present-day America and how a great country has evolved.
Forget Trump’s nonsense: the new Mount Rushmore should be: De Niro, Hoffman, Pacino, Plaza.
Take This Job and Shove It
“Take this job and shove it2” is not just a huge Johnny Paycheck song from 1977. It is also part of the American Dream, the American psyche. Americans love their freedom, and for most of us the most detrimental thing to our freedom is “9 to 5 bullshit”. So being able to quit one’s job, especially a lousy one that is dehumanizing, might be the most American thing ever. Handing in one’s two-week notice is a personal 4th of July moment for most Americans.
I mention this because there are two riveting “take this job and shove it” scenes in Emily the Criminal that showcase Plaza’s acting talents and will have you shaking with empathy before it is over. In terms of movie scenes in which a protagonist quits their job, the ones in Emily the Criminal may be second only to the similar scene in Quadrophenia.
That there is one such scene in Quadrophenia (1979), and more than one in Emily the Criminal, is also definitive of America in 2026. The job market is TOUGHER than it was 50 years ago, wages haven’t kept up with inflation since the Reagan Administration, and student debt (Emily has $60K worth) is now a national epidemic.
Emily the Criminal is definitive of America. So is Aubrey Plaza.
Emily the Criminal is also Aubrey Plaza’s only good movie, which is a very strong, very sad statement about America. Aubrey is a very talented, funny, smart, and beautiful woman who is impossible not to love. We can relate to Aubrey because she is also an outsider with a fun, rebellious spirit. Kind of like America. And yet Aubrey’s talent has been mostly wasted, probably because of “The Man“. Also kind of like America.
God Bless America.
God Bless Aubrey Plaza.
- Fight the Power is a Public Enemy song from another definitively American movie, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989). ↩︎
- Take This Job and Shove It was also a hit 1981 movie, taking in $17.6 million on a budget of $3.8 million. Dead Kennedys (how’s THAT for American?) covered Take This Job and Shove It on their 1986 album Bedtime for Democracy. ↩︎
*This is my second response to a series of NY Times articles about Definitive Films That Capture America. My previous article discussed THE American movie, Repo Man.
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