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Most movies about college kids tend to be either wild party movies or romantic comedies. They set out to be entertaining and easygoing—nothing too heavy. But Amazon’s Emergency takes the fun and romance of the typical college movie and turns it all completely upside-down.
Emergency follows a wild night gone wrong for three college roommates. Though Princeton-bound Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins) is focused on his thesis project, his best friend, Sean (RJ Cyler), has a legendary night of parties planned for them. When they stop home to get ready, they find a strange girl passed out in their living room and their roommate, Carlos (Sebastian Chacon), upstairs, engrossed in a video game. Well aware of what could happen if the police find three men of color with an unconscious white girl, they try to figure out how to get her to safety without getting themselves in trouble.
As the three friends debate their options and try to help this mystery girl, they end up on a pretty wild adventure. They race around campus in Sean’s van as their fellow students party on around them. They face sobriety checkpoints and suspicious neighbors and car problems as they try to figure out the best solution—all while the girl’s sister and her friends chase them through campus by tracking her phone. The situation naturally leads to plenty of action and tension—and lots of comic moments, too.
But this is more than just a wild and crazy movie about a bunch of college kids on an over-the-top mission around campus. Underneath the frantic race to avoid the police and drunken frat boys and safely get rid of this incapacitated girl, there are messages about race and friendship. And as the story continues, the comedy gradually fades away as the tension builds to heart-stopping levels.
With so much going on here—and so many different genres playing through each other—this adventure can feel random and disjointed at times. It’s funny, but there’s so much about it that’s also deadly serious. And while it has a strong message, it can sometimes get lost in the craziness.
Emergency definitely isn’t the typical college comedy. More than just another party movie, it’s a story about trying to make the right decisions when the odds (and the assumptions) are not working in your favor. It’s wild, it’s crazy, but it’s also a tense and eye-opening experience.
You can find Emergency in select theaters starting on May 20, 2022—or stream it on Prime Video beginning on May 27, 2022.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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