Finding Emily review: a shot in the arm for the romcom

The death of the cinematic romcom may have been exaggerated but it feels like a little defibrillation might not hurt. The 1990s imperial phase when a glossy Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock vehicle would cheerfully run rings around action blockbusters at the box office is long gone. Just look at 2025’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. The fourth instalment got the full multiplex rollout in the UK but quietly debuted on streaming in the US. Few Hollywood studios seem willing to bet a hefty marketing budget that audiences will turn out to watch two attractive people fall for each other on the big screen.

It is into this rather wobbly marketplace that Manchester-set romcom Finding Emily has debuted, offering potentially lucrative counterprogramming to anyone who does not fancy Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. The PR push has leaned into the fact that producers Working Title were responsible for Notting Hill and the Bridget Jones franchise but Finding Emily is a scrappier and more chaotic proposition. One of its secret weapons is that the characters are all student-age and therefore believably immature and occasionally idiotic.

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The setup is a knowing cliche – a fleeting encounter with an alluring girl who could be The One – but no less effective for it. Our bumbling romantic lead Owen (Spike Fearn) is the sound tech at a 2026 student union, even if his Britpop-era wardrobe suggests it could just as easily be 1996. While trying to modulate sound levels on the crammed dancefloor, he spots a fancy-dressed fairy and there is an instant connection. They drink, dance and flirt until she is dragged away by friends. All Owen gets is the fairy’s name, Emily, and (apparently) her mobile number.

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Blame it on the booze or the boogie: Emily left out a crucial digit. So now Owen is trying to track down his crush with only her name to go by. His sweetly compulsive approach sees him pull a random Emily out of a lecture to see if she is his potential soulmate. But this Emily (Angourie Rice) is a psychology grad from the US whose chances of getting a UK work visa are riding on her being able to construct a compelling thesis that love is essentially psychotic. The obsessional Owen looks like the perfect case study so she encourages him to do whatever wild, romcom-ready stunts will help him track down his dream girl. To that end, is it really all that bad to help him access the university’s student email list so he can spam every Emily on campus?

Pairing a worldly American and a bumbling Brit evokes the culture-clash of Notting Hill but Finding Emily takes place in a notably less high-status milieu. The working-class Owen is dealing with a recent family bereavement and the breakup of his indie band. For all her hard-charging academic drive, Emily has had some romantic missteps of her own and is struggling to maintain a professional distance from her puppyish subject.

When Owen’s missed-connection quest goes viral it triggers ructions across the campus. Rightfully, the 300 or so Emilys who were emailed by him out of the blue have issues with being cyber-stalked, causing a PR headache for the dean (Minnie Driver, brilliant in just a handful of scenes). But while the strident declarations of the student protesters are mostly played for laughs they do raise interesting questions about how the sort of grand gestures that are routinely normalised in romcoms would play out in the boring old real world.

The things that work best in Finding Emily are the specific details of its Manchester setting and a notable attention to both the rom and com elements. The hit rate might be rather variable but director Alicia MacDonald and writer Rachel Hirons ensure there are jokes packed into every scene, from throwaway lines from eccentric supporting characters to the Chyron graphics on live news updates. That sense of throwing everything into the mix and the chalk-and-cheese chemistry of Fearn and Rice combine to give the film an underdog appeal. The leads may be fresh-faced but the soundtrack seems smartly curated to attract those who were into Oasis the first time round. Clearly there is some life in the genre yet.

Finding Emily is in cinemas now

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