I SO dug this. Aubrey Plaza hits different and I am so excited about her career. I reviewed for Ebert.
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you had me at ‘Good Time’ and ‘Emily’s true nature is activated.’ Great review, I’m excited to see this!
Jessie – great to hear from you! Would love to hear your thoughts.
I want to see this! Thinking of one of your recent posts, I think Ann Dvorak would “get” Aubrey Plaza. (And vice versa.)
Tough cookies!!
Let me know once you’ve seen it!
I really enjoyed this. Emily was a great character, as was Youcef. I had to look up Theo Rossi when I got home, he was so familiar. Then I kicked myself for not recognizing him as Juice from Sons of Anarchy. He and Aubrey had such great chemistry, as you said.
Aubrey made it authentic that Emily would ask so many what-ifs in some situations and also be careless enough to ignore Youcef’s cautions. There’s Mike Tyson’s famous comment that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Emily was at her best after the punch. And her comment to Youcef that she figured out what she did wrong with her boyfriend… that was Hell Yeah!
I also liked how much in Emily’s face the camera was. It was great to be so focused on her.
I loved the chemistry between Emily and Youcef. “Do you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend?” lol He took one look at that party scene and realized immediately what was going on and why he was needed.
I read an interview with Plaza who was heavily involved in every aspect of this production – including casting – and they auditioned so many people for that role – it was crucial they find the right person. And Rossi and she did the audition together and it just “clicked”. He was instantly the right person for it.