This is a tricky movie to talk about because it comes ready-made with defenses to critiques which can be discussion enders. I’m on board with the politics of the movie. In college, I probably could’ve found a passed out white girl in my house without a lot of risk of police violence (although I still would’ve been pretty freaked out and scared that I could somehow get in trouble). So, a lot of my “what they should have done” advice comes from an incompatible perspective. And also, there’s no movie if they all make the smart decisions.
What I actually find tricky about this movie is the balance of comedy to drama. This movie needs both. It’s an outrageous scenario. A lot of the movie is satire. And it’s extremely funny in places. However, it’s also trying to make real points about inequality, false ally-ship, and trauma. That’s a tough balance, and I think Emergency fails where most comedies do. It’s a comedy until plot gets in the way. This is also known as the “third act problem” in comedies. Everybody is having a good time until they remember that there’s a story they need to conclude.
Emergency is two very good movies awkwardly combined into one pretty good movie. It’s a very fun and funny movie most of the time. It shouldn’t be a surprise that I’d enjoy it, because it’s a Superbad. It’s three young men trying to get across town for a party. The three leads more or less fit the Superbad character types: the brash one (RJ Cyler), the timid one (Donal Elise Watkins), and the awkward one (Sebastian Chacon). In both movies, the characters are trying to stay out of trouble with the police. There’s even a secret about Watkins’ living situation the next year. Obviously there are key differences and most of it comes down to the Emergency guys being minorities. The best humor in Emergency comes from race. A lot of it is pretty dark or biting, ranging from fake wokeness (people with a Black Lives Matter sign assuming our leads are drug dealers just because they are parked in their neighborhood) to assumed police overreaction (Cyler’s cousins’ house scattering when everyone realizes they brought a passed out white girl to the house). The movie screeches to a halt with the police standoff at the hospital and an extended conclusion. Until then, the movie did so well balancing serious topics with great comedy. The standoff I’m totally fine with. It’s harrowing and makes its point well. But then the movie continues with scenes where the characters spell out the things that the movie previously had already shown so well. And it does it without really returning to the sense of humor.
Of course, there are defenses to this. Perhaps one could argue that it’s showing how quickly things can turn for a minority in the U.S. One minute you are living in a comedy until reality comes crashing down. Or it could be showing that it’s funny as long as it’s abstract. I’ll also admit that I don’t know the solution to the balance problem. After the climactic events, it would be hard to just go back to telling jokes like before. I just wish they could’ve found a way.
I need to be very clear though. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It’s well worth seeing. I hope to see everyone in the cast pop up in other comedies and dramas. I even wonder if the end will play better on a second watch, knowing the beats. There are a lot of movies that disappointed me the first time because I thought they were something else, then the problems bothered me less upon rewatch. Emergency could definitely be one of those.
Side Rant: Am I alone thinking the movie does Sabrina Carpenter’s character dirty at the end? She’s a bit much and makes some bad faith assumptions. But it’s not like she’s the only one doing a bad job making sense of the situation. All she knows is that her sister went missing. She tracks her down to being passed out in a van with three strangers taking a circuitous path in the woods. When she finally does confront them, her sister was being chased in the woods and is unhealthily intoxicated. No matter who the three young men are, is it wrong of her to assume the worst? Everyone is panicking. Most are high or drunk. No one does a great job explaining the situation. While we have spent the entire movie with Cyler, Watkins, and Chacon, they mean nothing to her. Her focus is on her sister. It’s not that surprising that her focus wouldn’t be on diffusing the police standoff. It’s very weird to me that she gets a kind of villain treatment at the end with them shutting the door on her. And maybe I’m reading the end wrong. Maybe it’s not Watkins shutting the door on her to say the damage has been done and I don’t forgive what you did. Maybe it’s that they are annoyed that instead of a simple “Thank you” she’s using this as an opportunity to prove her wokeness. The solution isn’t to have them accept her apology. Frankly, I think they needed to make her do more earlier to apologize for. This is something I’d like to see some other takes on. I feel like I have some blinders somewhere or forgot about some things she did. Or maybe it’s as simple as “I like Sabrina Carpenter and don’t like to think of her as a villain”.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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