Focus Features has released the official trailer and first-look images for Finding Emily, a new romantic comedy starring Angourie Rice and Spike Fearn that arrives in cinemas on 28 August.
Directed by Alicia MacDonald and written by Rachel Hirons, the film follows a lovesick musician who is accidentally given the wrong number for his dream girl. Rather than giving up, he teams up with a driven psychology student to track her down, setting off what Focus describes as a “campus-wide frenzy” involving romance, chaos and a few questionable decisions along the way.
The film stars Angourie Rice as Sami and Spike Fearn as Owen, with Minnie Driver, Ella Maisy Purvis, Yali Topol Margalith, Kat Ronney, Timothy Innes and Nadia Parkes also appearing in the ensemble cast.
The footage is full of awkward flirting, mixed signals and the kind of messy romantic decisions that make a campus rom-com so easy to root for. It looks warm, funny and full of the sort of near-misses that keep everyone one wrong number away from falling in love.
Produced by Working Title and Parkville Pictures, Finding Emily also comes with strong romantic-comedy credentials behind the scenes, with producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner previously involved in Bridget Jones’s Diary and Love Actually. Focus Features appears to be positioning the film as a late-summer theatrical rom-com for audiences craving something lighter and more heartfelt beyond the usual blockbuster noise.
For CultureCues, there is something very comforting about seeing a proper big-screen rom-com leaning into sincerity again. Wrong numbers, campus crushes, awkward flirting and falling for the person who has been beside them the whole time? Honestly, that is exactly what we want from a late-summer rom-com. We will be watching in the only acceptable way: overly invested and fully ready to believe in love again.
Finding Emily arrives in cinemas on 28 August. Watch the trailer below.
Nikki Murray is a UK-based writer, screenwriter and founder & editor of CultureCues, covering film, television, music and pop culture. Her work focuses on storytelling and the moments shaping modern entertainment.