Emergency
Amazon Studios | Release Date: May 20, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussMay 17, 2022
“It’s not what it looks like” is both the marketing tagline for Emergency and an accurate description of this ingenious independent film. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzMay 23, 2022
This is a dazzling movie, all the more so for being made on a seemingly tiny budget. Emergency has a lot to say even though it never carries itself as a film that has a message. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 20, 2022
For all its influences and roots in similar types of comedies, Emergency is an original work, very much of its time. Read full review
88
Washington PostAnn HornadayMay 18, 2022
The classic college party-crawl comedy gets a smart, self-aware refresh with Emergency, a funny, adroitly executed satire that manages to find genuine laughs in the unlikeliest places. Read full review
83
IndieWireSiddhant AdlakhaJan 22, 2022
Every interaction is rip-roaringly funny — even the more disquieting ones — resulting in a film where you can’t help but laugh at the riveting absurdity. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeMay 22, 2022
Carey Williams’s smart satire of the daily realities of racial profiling is a switchback ride that lurches between comedy and nerve-shredding tension, but loses focus in an extraneous coda. Read full review
80
IGNMatt DonatoMar 15, 2022
It walks a tightrope with its topics, but Williams is delicate and confident with every step — his performers following close behind, dominating the screen. Read full review
80
Film ThreatNorman GidneyJan 25, 2022
Emergency is a sharp, farcical comedy with a message. Read full review
80
SlashfilmEthan AndertonJan 22, 2022
The result is a chaotic, surprisingly funny, and intense night gone wrong that masterfully balances comedy, drama, and suspense.  Read full review
80
TheWrapCarlos AguilarJan 22, 2022
All in all, this electrifying and thought-provoking ride works as it chooses the searing over the subtle, a tough call when approaching a subject that warrants in-your-face urgency. Read full review
80
The GuardianAdrian HortonJan 22, 2022
A ride somehow both warm and stressful, and an inviting mashup of familiar beats made fresh by a trio of grounded, endearing performances. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfMay 19, 2022
Where the film loses steam is in its configuration; the slow-paced journey from setting to setting builds the tension a bit unevenly in service of the film’s themes. These bumps in the road leave Emergency imperfect, but it’s still a chaotic and thoughtful ride worth hitching onto. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 26, 2022
Although parts of Emergency can feel like a bizarre cross-pollination of After Hours (Martin Scorsese’s 1985 chronicle of a nightmare road trip) and Weekend at Bernie’s, there’s more going on here. Despite the comedy, the screenplay poses some serious questions that can’t simply be brushed aside. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubMark KeizerMay 17, 2022
It’s easy to imagine Williams taking this story and crafting either a boisterously funny, obstacle-filled mad dash to the hospital or an indignant, op-ed baiting thesis on post-George Floyd America. Instead, he turns down the heat and blends the two, creating a buddy comedy of errors shot through with an ever-darkening undercurrent of racial commentary. Read full review
75
The PlaylistRobert DanielsJan 22, 2022
It’s the unbreakable friendship between Kunle and Sean, the ways their time together, good or bad in college, will mark how they see the world, and how the world sees them, forever, that makes Williams’ Emergency an elaborate, chaotically hilarious, intensely terrifying journey worth taking. Read full review
75
The Film StageJake Kring-SchreifelsJan 22, 2022
Despite highlighting some chaotic encounters, Williams isn’t interested in explosions and one-dimensional, hell-bent villains. His focus remains on the way years of criminalization can impact decision-making and friendships, and, as his last shot suggests, how distinct sounds can traumatize even as they’re meant to help. Read full review
70
The New York TimesLisa KennedyMay 19, 2022
Thanks to some good filmmaking decisions, Emergency is rife with tart observations about campus life. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredMartin CarrMar 23, 2022
Emergency fails to live up to its early promise, by squandering strong performances in a search for something more satirical. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanJan 22, 2022
Emergency, in its racially aware way, turns into something that feels not unlike an ’80s comedy. It has winning flashes of wit, of observation, of telling satire. But it’s fundamentally about the situation. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineJacob OllerJan 22, 2022
Emergency’s ensemble sustains its premise for far longer than it should be able to, maintaining the nuanced balance of commentary-thriller-comedy whenever the script becomes too interested in just one ingredient of its complex cocktail. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineDerek SmithMay 17, 2022
Emergency is uneven, but it’s grounded by dynamic performances and a vivid portrayal of the minutiae of friendship. Read full review
60
Little White LiesAlicia HaddickMay 20, 2022
Any flaws the film has in its pacing make it no less of an essential viewing experience, with an air of unpredictability in its final act and enough to say to stick with you after the credits roll. Read full review
60
EmpireKambole CampbellMay 19, 2022
Another diagnosis of the sickness of an over-armed, money-guzzling police force, Emergency sometimes struggles to combine its cinematic form with its messaging. But there are just enough moments where it all comes together to make it feel like worthwhile viewing. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonJan 22, 2022
One can feel Williams’ anger at an America that imperils young Black and Latino men, viewing them only as potential threats, but the picture never fully gets a handle on its mixture of satire and seriousness. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeJan 22, 2022
Emergency mostly stays close to the surface of the issues it presents, which results in a darkly funny but frustrating viewing experience. Read full review
58
ColliderRoss BonaimeJun 3, 2022
Emergency is ambitious and daring in what it’s trying to say and do, but a mishandling of pacing, serious issues, and pseudo-parody hurt what is a truly intriguing concept. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesSarah-Tai BlackJun 2, 2022
The biggest disappointment of Williams’ film then is not the ordinariness of its style and narrative mechanisms or even its safe and easy politics in search of a similarly broad audience, but its unwillingness to disrupt, with full and heavy weight, the exact things that it critiques. Read full review
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