The review argues that Finding Emily fails as a romantic comedy because its self-aware treatment of familiar genre clichés does not create enough charm, chemistry or emotional credibility. Although the film recognises that Owen’s search for a woman he barely knows appears creepy, it ultimately treats troubling behaviour as the basis for romance, leaving its supposedly modern critique of rom-com conventions feeling cynical.

Owen, played by Spike Fearn, searches Manchester City University for a woman named Emily after receiving an incomplete phone number, escalating from requesting information to posting campus-wide notices. Angourie Rice’s Emily then uses him as an unethical psychology case study, forging consent and encouraging increasingly extreme actions, including an email sent to all 318 Emilys at the university; the reviewer considers this breach of trust irreconcilable with the film’s romantic conclusion.