Finding Emily (2026)★ 7.2/10

There’s nothing like a great rom-com that helps you forget about your own love life. This is FINDING EMILY, a British modern romantic comedy and the feature debut from director Alicia MacDonald. Owen (Spike Fearn) has a great meet-cute with a girl at the club he works at as a sound manager. She gives him her number and her name, Emily. When it turns out the number is missing a digit, Owen goes to great lengths to find her. Emily Raine (Angourie Rice) is a psych student trying to build a case study around the Sigmund Freud quote “Love is a state of temporary psychosis”. She finds Owen the perfect candidate, and decides to help him. I really enjoyed the contrasting viewpoints between these two and how they bounced off each other. Unlike a certain popular TV series, this takes place on campus. It’s also a love letter to the city of Manchester and its music scene. This movie is predictable in the best way possible. MacDonald uses a lot of classic rom-com tropes, but they’re very thought out and make sense in the moment. Social media is incorporated well here, following the plot fairly realistically. I love the writing here from Rachel Hirons. The dialogue feels real and the world lived in. Spike has such a wonderful lovable energy. The chemistry is top-notch. The film isn’t afraid to be a little cringe, which I think is a part of love itself. This movie makes the rom-com formula feel fresh and new. Overall, FINDING EMILY is easily one of the cutest movies of the year and a very safe bet for rom-com fans. It’s a throwback that made me feel warm and fuzzy. It’s a reminder to say what you mean and mean what you say. I love love.