What the title says. It hits the same exact beats and everything.
Also, Plaza is a sociopath in this film just like Jake was in Nightcrawler. I feel like that's going over a lot of the critics heads, because the reviews I've read of this film haven't mentioned it, yet they all talked about it in their nightcrawler reviews.
Pretty good flick, don't get me wrong, but it's a total copy.
I see the similarity, but Jake started out in the film as a criminal steeling items to be sold for scrap. Yes, plaza's character has a criminal record, but for DUI and assaulting her ex. I was thinking of another film, The Next Three Days, where a husband slowly descends into becoming a hardened criminal when trying to get his wife out of prison (and interestingly, both films end in South America)
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Both characters start off trying to get a job, Jake doesn't get hired because the manager won't hire a thief he just bought stolen goods from, while Emily doesn't get hired because she has a criminal record and lied about it. - It's literally the same beat and set-up telling us about the characters; They need money and are willing to lie or steal to get it.
Also we don't know what her criminal record is for, she starts off the film lying about it and we have no reason to believe her the second time she explains it. This is the detail I think is going over a lot of peoples heads. In the opening scene, the hiring manager calls her out for lying about her criminal record and asks her about her conviction for "aggravated assault in 2016."
I haven't seen The next three days but that sounds like a good movie, I'm going to check it out.
Isn't Nightcrawler about journalism?
shareThis is a stretch, the main characters had completely different motivations for one. Plaza is hesitant from the get go and gets very little pleasure out of what she is doing.
Jake isn’t chasing ambulances because he’s desperate for money or has a mountain of debt, he gets off on feeding his own ego and getting recognition and status. Plaza has no real ambitions until much later in the movie and even then she only acts on them because she is wanted for murder and so she flees the country.
Not worth mentioning because clearly it's not a Nightcrawler ripoff. I liked Nightcrawler but I loved Emily the Criminal.
shareThis wasn't bad. But I liked Nightcrawler better.
shareI've never seen Nightcrawler so I can't really comment on that, but what this film did remind me of was Good Time, except the latter was far superior in every way.
Unlike Robert Pattinson's character in that film, who was complex, relatable, and intelligent, the character of Emily was boring, one-note, and a complete and utter moron. She has little to no personality beyond having a resting bitch face, and all the problems she and Youcef face are basically the result of her own stupidity. She was literally told NOT to rob the same place twice in one week, but for whatever reason, she doesn't listen and basically incriminates herself due to her refusal of common sense advice.
Also, unlike Good Time, which sprinkled in doses of social commentary organically throughout, this movie shoves the points it's trying to make in your face with a forced, contrived speech about the unethical nature of unpaid internships (I don't disagree, but still) while also trying to make you sympathize with a character who can't get a job because the cops have it on record that she once assaulted her boyfriend. Can you imagine the film trying to garner sympathy for her if she was a man?
I think John Patton Ford has potential as a director (the visual style of the film was nice) but he should never be allowed to write a script ever again.
I don’t think Emily is a sociopath. I think she has real emotions. She seemed to care for her friend and the guy that got her into the business. She also said something about taking care of her grandmother.
shareThey guy she gets involved with is a bit of a whiny loser, but she's attracted to how powerful he is originally in their dynamic. Once the tables turn and he's no longer powerful, but representing a liability to her, she drops him like a rock and doesn't look back. This makes me think that's she's either a total climber or a bit of a sociopath. She doesn't really seem to show any emotion over the course of the film either aside from mild frustration here and there. When she smiles, it's typically about getting away with something immoral and not getting caught.
There are a few other parallels with Nightcrawler (SPOILER WARNING):
- It's largely set at night and all around Los Angeles.
- The police seem very not-too-hot on the trail.
- Things gradually escalate from small level crime to extremely dangerous dealings with murderers.
- The anti-hero completely gets away with everything, seemingly unscathed, in the end.