It is only a surface level comparison, but detractors of the upcoming Saints Row reboot can learn a lot from watching Emily the Criminal. The upcoming game from Volition is about a group of young people who take up a life of crime to (in part) pay their college loans. For whatever reason, this has people up in arms about the game being about the manufactured problems of today’s youth.
Aubrey Plaza’s new vehicle is about a young woman named Emily Benetto who becomes involved in a credit card scam in order to take care of the debt accrued from art school. As she learns how much money she can make, she becomes more deeply involved. It is not long before the dangers of her new moneymaking endeavor show up.
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Emily the Criminal – and Saints Row – actually employ a longtime idea in the reluctant criminal story. Today, it is college debt; decades ago, the driving force was losing everything at the racetrack. Using debts racked up from secondary school is a modern twist on an old idea. Using credit cards further puts it in today’s world.
Writer-director John Patton Ford tries to differentiate his film by attempting to make it more of a character study. Plaza does a fine job, but there is not much to the eponymous character. Aside from having to pay off her bills, there is not much depth to Emily. The movie is interesting not because of Emily, but in spite of her. The premise is engaging by default – will she be…
