Romantic comedies live and die by chemistry, sincerity and the audience’s willingness to believe two people are destined to collide at exactly the right moment. Finding Emily, the charming new feature from director Alicia MacDonald, understands that formula completely. Rather than trying to reinvent the genre, the film leans into what has always made these stories so irresistible: yearning, awkwardness, emotional chaos and the hope that connection can still surprise us.
The film knowingly follows a well-worn romantic comedy path: mismatched strangers become reluctant companions, companions become friends, and friends slowly realise the person they’ve been searching for has been standing beside them the entire time. Yet even when you can see every turn coming, Finding Emily is so warm-hearted and enjoyable that you happily go along for the ride.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of Manchester’s student culture and music scene, the film follows sensitive musician Owen (Spike Fearn), who spends one magical night talking, drinking and dancing with a mysterious girl named Emily (Sadie Soverall) before discovering the phone number she gave him is missing a digit. Determined to track her down among the university’s hundreds of Emilys, Owen inadvertently crosses paths with Angourie Rice’s Emily Raine – a sharp, cynical American psychology student who sees Owen’s increasingly obsessive search as perfect material for her thesis on the futility of romantic attachment.
From there, Finding Emily settles into an appealing rhythm that feels indebted to classic British romantic comedies while still filtered through a distinctly Gen Z lens. There are social media jokes, performative anxieties and modern dating frustrations throughout, but what makes the film refreshing is its embrace of an almost “old-school” mentality toward romance. Beneath all the irony and online detachment, the film believes in yearning. It believes in missed connections, chance encounters and people earnestly chasing feelings they don’t fully understand.
That sincerity works largely because Rice and Fearn have such easy chemistry together. Fearn plays Owen with an endearing softness that feels increasingly rare in male romantic leads. He’s awkward, emotional and occasionally ridiculous, but never in a way that feels forced or performative. Rice, meanwhile, gives Emily a guarded intelligence that slowly cracks open as the film progresses. Even when both characters are acting in ways that could be construed as deceptive or selfish, MacDonald and screenwriter Rachel Hirons never judge them too harshly. The film understands that people in their early twenties are often contradictory, messy and unsure of themselves.
The supporting ensemble adds to the film’s loose, lived-in energy, particularly Minnie Driver, who is amusingly exasperated as the university dean constantly attempting to contain the increasingly chaotic campus-wide frenzy surrounding Owen’s search. The film is also smart enough to let Manchester itself become part of the romance. Between its pubs, student bars, late-night streets and buzzing music culture, the city gives the story texture and personality beyond the standard glossy rom-com backdrop.
MacDonald has spoken about wanting to make a romantic comedy that “reasserted some faith in human connection,” and that intention radiates through every scene. In an era where so many films lean into cynicism or emotional detachment, Finding Emily feels refreshingly sincere – the kind of film that reminds audiences how enjoyable it can be to sit in a cinema, laugh with strangers and watch two people slowly fall for one another.
No, Finding Emily isn’t trying to deconstruct the romantic comedy formula. It’s embracing it wholeheartedly – and sometimes, that’s exactly what audiences want.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Finding Emily is screening in Australian theatres from May 21st, 2026, before opening in the United Kingdom on May 22nd. Finding Emily is scheduled for a release in the United States on August 28th, 2026.
