---
title: "Finding Emily"
year: 2026
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/finding-emily"
fi1m_id: "finding-emily"
imdb_id: "tt32499466"
tmdb_id: 1339588
wikidata_id: "Q131737274"
fi1m_score: 70
critics_score: 69
critics_reviews: 14
published: "2026-09-21"
updated: "2026-09-21T01:29:02.223047+00:00"
region: "SA"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Finding Emily (2026)

Directed by Alicia MacDonald · 1h 51m · Romance, Comedy

## Identity

Finding Emily

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/finding-emily
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** finding-emily
- **IMDb ID:** tt32499466
- **TMDB ID:** 1339588
- **Wikidata ID:** Q131737274
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32499466/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1339588, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q131737274

**Fi1m score: 70** · Critics 69 from 14 reviews

*In a sentence:* One boy, one first name, every Emily in Manchester, and a soundtrack that never stops

> Alicia MacDonald’s first feature is a warm, funny Manchester romcom with two likeable leads and a good ear for how students talk. It raises a proper question about its own hero, then decides the grand gesture is fine after all.

## Synopsis

Manchester, the present day. Owen (Spike Fearn), a university student and a hopeless romantic, meets a girl called Emily, loses her almost at once, and finds the number he has been given is the wrong one. He knows her first name and little else. Rather than let it go, he sets out to find her, working through the Emilys of the city one by one, among them Fairy Emily (Sadie Soverall) and Emily Thewlis (Kat Ronney), while his friends Anna (Cora Kirk) and Matt (Jack Riddiford) look on. The search spills onto social media and then onto campus, where Dean Watkinson (Minnie Driver) and Professor Westlake (Prasanna Puwanarajah) have views about a young man conducting a public hunt for a woman. Somewhere in the city is Emily Raine (Angourie Rice).

## Review

Alicia MacDonald’s first feature takes the oldest romcom engine there is, a boy who has met the right girl and cannot find her again, and drops it into a Manchester university in the age of the group chat. Rachel Hirons’s script knows exactly what it is doing with the old parts: the friends who tell him to stop, the rival Emilys, the public declaration. It is produced by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, whose names have been on most of the British romcoms of the last thirty years, and it wears that inheritance openly. For an hour it is a pleasure. The last act is where it settles for the shape it was always going to have, and where it lets itself off a hook it had carefully baited.

Spike Fearn is the reason the first hour works. Owen is a boy who says the earnest thing out loud and then hears how it sounds, and Fearn plays that half-second of regret so well that we forgave him more than we should have. Angourie Rice, as Emily Raine, is given less to do for long stretches and does it without any visible effort to be liked, which is exactly why she is. When the two of them share a frame the film relaxes and the jokes come faster. The clip the studio has put out under the title *Getting To Know You* is a fair sample: two people talking too quickly because they are nervous and pretending they are not.

MacDonald and her cinematographer Rachel Clark make the city look like somewhere a person might choose to be young. Bobbie Cousins dresses the student flats and college rooms with the right clutter, and Sara Hassan puts everyone in clothes that look owned rather than costumed. Phil Hignett cuts fast and puts phones and posts into the frame without stopping the film to explain them, so a joke about a meme lands on the meme and not on a caption. Morgan Kibby’s music sits under a soundtrack of songs that is rarely off. We enjoyed it; we also noticed that the film reaches for a song every time a scene needs to feel like something, and by the end that starts to feel like a habit rather than a choice.

The interesting thing about *Finding Emily* is that it knows its hero’s behaviour is odd. A young man conducting a public search for a woman he met once is, in the present decade, a thing people have opinions about, and the film gives those opinions to Minnie Driver’s Dean Watkinson and Prasanna Puwanarajah’s Professor Westlake and to the online pile-on that follows Owen around. This is the film’s best idea and its best stretch of comedy. Driver is drily wonderful as a woman who has read every complaint procedure and would like, just once, not to have to use one. We laughed a good deal here, and laughed at ourselves too, because the film had made the case against Owen quite well and we were still on his side.

Then it stops making the case. Having set up the argument, Hirons and MacDonald resolve it by having the film simply agree with Owen, and the objections turn out to have been a hurdle rather than a question. We felt talked out of something. A romcom is allowed to believe in the grand gesture; this one wanted credit for doubting it first, and it did not earn that credit. The reviews in America have been notably cooler than the ones at home, and this is the reason, and on this point the cooler ones have a case.

The last act is also, plainly, the last act of every film of this kind. Everyone who needs to be in the same place gets there, the misunderstanding is cleared in a paragraph, and the soundtrack does the rest. Cora Kirk and Jack Riddiford are good company as the friends, and the parade of Emilys, Sadie Soverall and Kat Ronney among them, gives the middle its rhythm. Nobody is wasted, and nobody gets a scene they can take home.

The obvious comparison is [*Rye Lane*](https://film.one/film/rye-lane) (2023), which most critics have already made and which flatters this film slightly. That was looser and stranger and trusted its city more. *Finding Emily* is tidier and safer and, in its first hour, just as funny. It runs 111 minutes and carries a 12A, and if a British romcom is what the evening calls for, this one will do the job and leave you arguing about Owen on the way home.

*Fi1m score 70, published 21 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics like it. Ten of the fourteen reviews are positive, and the praise gathers around Alicia MacDonald’s direction, which several call lively and quick with a joke, and around the two leads, whose chemistry is mentioned again and again. The Manchester setting and the soundtrack come up often, and a handful of critics greet the film as proof that the British romcom is not finished.

The reservations are sharper than the average suggests, and they split cleanly by geography. The British reviews from May are warm almost without exception; the American reviews that follow in August are cooler. The Hollywood Reporter finds little charm or chemistry in the leads and calls the film’s defence of romcom conventions cynical, while The AV Club objects to how it treats the feminist reactions it depicts. Even admirers concede the final act is formulaic. The spread runs from 30 to 85, wider than the number lets on.

## Straight answers

**Is Finding Emily worth watching?**

*Finding Emily* is worth watching if a warm British romcom is what the evening calls for, and we scored it 70. Spike Fearn and Angourie Rice are likeable together, Minnie Driver is drily funny, and the first hour is a pleasure. The last act settles for the standard shape and lets its hero off a hook it had carefully baited.

**How long is Finding Emily, and what is it rated?**

*Finding Emily* runs 1h 51m. It is a romance and comedy film.

**Where can I watch Finding Emily in Saudi Arabia?**

*Finding Emily* is not on any streaming or rental service in Saudi Arabia at the moment. It is available in 8 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Finding Emily, and is it suitable for children?**

*Finding Emily* is a 12A romcom with no violence or frightening material to speak of. Its adult content is limited to a university student conducting a public search for a woman he met once, and an online pile-on that follows him around, which younger children will not follow and older ones may find worth arguing about. Teenagers and adults are its natural audience.

**How does Finding Emily compare to Rye Lane?**

*Finding Emily* is tidier and safer than [*Rye Lane*](https://film.one/film/rye-lane), and in its first hour just as funny. *Rye Lane* is looser and stranger, trusts its south London setting more, and stops before its slightness becomes a problem, so it is the better film. Anyone who prefers a conventional romcom shape and a Manchester campus setting may still take to this one.

**What should I watch after Finding Emily?**

After *Finding Emily*, try [*Rye Lane*](https://film.one/film/rye-lane) (2023, Fi1m 78): The south London romcom this one keeps being compared to, looser and odder in every way. Then [*Notting Hill*](https://film.one/film/notting-hill) (1999, Fi1m 78): Bevan and Fellner’s template, with Hugh Grant doing the earnest thing and hearing how it sounds; and [*Before Sunrise*](https://film.one/film/before-sunrise) (1995, Fi1m 89): Two strangers, one city, one night; the talking is the whole film and it is enough.

### Reviews we read (14)

- **The Telegraph**, Tim Robey (85/100, inferred): The critic is charmed by this bright and truly funny reinvention of the British romcom, crediting the debut director's inspired comedy direction and ability to wring laughs from authentic characters. They single out the sweet message about youthful connections for praise. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2026/05/22/finding-emily-review/)
- **Radio Times**, James Mottram (4/5): The review calls the Manchester-set story a sweet, spirited romcom with verve and intelligence about the madness of love. It singles out the director’s lively handling, the smart script, the city locations and the lead actor’s charisma. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-l7rxhh/finding-emily/)
- **The Observer**, Wendy Ide (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the film for making a well-worn romcom genre feel fresh and vital through its sharply written characters and a standout unselfconscious performance. They highlight the peppy direction that embraces social media and memes. [Read](https://observer.co.uk/culture/film/article/wendy-ides-pick-of-other-films-finding-emily-star-wars-the-mandalorian-and-grogu-hen-and-more)
- **The Times**, Kevin Maher (80/100, inferred): The critic hails the return of the British rom-com, noting it commits to genre traditions without being derivative and features an endearing hopeless romantic hero. They praise the reworking of classic romcom elements with aplomb. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/finding-emily-review-british-rom-com-b0hrxnkc6)
- **Time Out**, India Lawrence (4/5): The critic finds Alicia MacDonald’s film a charming and heartfelt Gen Z romcom that explores the ‘what if?’ of romance going too far. It is praised for its leads’ chemistry, grand gestures, one-liners, soundtrack and authentic capture of young people. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/finding-emily-review-2026)
- **Empire**, John Nugent (75/100, inferred): The critic finds it a warm, mostly funny British romcom that celebrates and tweaks the old template with winsome turns from the leads. They single out the direction's vibrant, music-filled Mancunian take on Rye Lane and the chemistry between Rice and Fearn for praise. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/finding-emily/)
- **The Guardian** (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the gen Z campus romcom warm-hearted and impossible to hate despite some cheesiness and uneven performances. They single out the gentle send-up of campus culture wars and social media pile-ons for praise. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/21/finding-emily-review-gen-z-campus-romcom-is-impossible-to-hate)
- **Variety**, Guy Lodge (70/100, inferred): Director Alicia MacDonald’s film is both smarter and sweeter than expected, identifying Gen Z sexual politics while knowing when grand romantic gestures still work, delivering a fresh, funny British charmer anchored by delightful lead performances. [Read](https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/finding-emily-review-1236842405/)
- **The AV Club**, Natalia Keogan (C): The film struggles with identity as a rom-com, featuring regressive elements that mock feminist reactions while not developing characters or chemistry enough to root for the leads. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/finding-emily-review)
- **The New York Times**, Beandrea July (55/100, inferred): This Gen Z rom-com shows flashes of wit and invention but ultimately leans too heavily on the traditional formula it seems poised to subvert, fumbling toward an inevitable conclusion. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/movies/finding-emily-review.html)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Gary Goldstein (50/100, inferred): Elevated by charming performances and Working Title pedigree, the film has a wonky charisma but feels insufficiently peppy and propulsive, making for a diverting but not fully sweeping British rom-com. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2026-08-28/finding-emily-review-spike-fearn-angourie-rice-alicia-macdonald-rom-com)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Angie Han (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the rom-com unconvincing due to its handling of toxic behavior and lack of charm or chemistry between leads, despite some sweet moments. It criticizes the film's defensive stance on rom-com tropes as cynical. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/finding-emily-review-angourie-rice-1236681744/)
- **Film Stories**, Simon Brew (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's charming, anti-cynical take on the rom-com genre with likable leads and a strong Manchester setting. The final act feels formulaic and contrived. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/finding-emily-review-hang-on-theyre-making-romcoms-for-cinemas-again/)
- **HeyUGuys**, Linda Marric (4/5): The critic finds it a charming, sincere modern rom-com with great chemistry between leads and a warm, nostalgic feel. It highlights the soundtrack and sincerity over cynicism. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/finding-emily-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Alicia MacDonald
- **Director:** Alicia MacDonald
- **Writer:** Rachel Hirons
- **Cinematography:** Rachel Clark
- **Editor:** Phil Hignett
- **Music:** Morgan Kibby
- **Production design:** Bobbie Cousins
- **Costume design:** Sara Hassan
- **Producer:** Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Olivier Kaempfer
- **Cast:** Spike Fearn as Owen; Angourie Rice as Emily Raine; Prasanna Puwanarajah as Professor Westlake; Minnie Driver as Dean Watkinson; Cora Kirk as Anna; Jack Riddiford as Matt; Isabella Laughland as Freya; Amber Grappy as Rhea
- **Runtime:** 1h 51m
- **First release (the UK):** 18 April 2026
- **Genres:** Romance, Comedy
- **Box office:** $3 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc2UjmPzN8c

## Where to watch in Saudi Arabia

Not streaming, renting or buying in Saudi Arabia at the last check.

Also available in: AU, BE, CA, GB, IE, NL, NZ, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Rye Lane* (2023), Fi1m 78: The south London romcom this one keeps being compared to, looser and odder in every way. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/rye-lane.md)
- *Notting Hill* (1999), Fi1m 78: Bevan and Fellner’s template, with Hugh Grant doing the earnest thing and hearing how it sounds. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/notting-hill.md)
- *Before Sunrise* (1995), Fi1m 89: Two strangers, one city, one night; the talking is the whole film and it is enough. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/before-sunrise.md)
- *Amélie* (2001), Fi1m 82: A shy Parisian conducts a courtship by elaborate stunt; the grand gesture done with a straight face. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/amelie.md)
- *The Worst Person in the World* (2021), Fi1m 84: Oslo, a woman in her twenties, and a romcom that lets its heroine be wrong. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-worst-person-in-the-world.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/finding-emily