What To Watch This Weekend: ‘The Dog Stars,’ ‘Finding Emily,’ ‘Buddy’ And ‘Coyote vs. Acme’

But as the film expands, its narrative thins. The familiar genre beats — the lonely wanderer, the fragile oasis, the flicker of hope — arrive with a certain inevitability, and the story’s momentum never fully matches its visual ambition. Elordi’s restraint sometimes leaves the film without a strong emotional anchor, and the characters drift through beautifully rendered emptiness. What begins as a quiet, elegiac survival tale ultimately feels diffuse, handsome, and a little hollow, searching for a deeper resonance it never quite finds.

“Finding Emily”

Angourie Rice, Spike Fearn, Minnie Driver; directed by Alicia MacDonald

(L-R) Spike Fearn and Angelina Rice in “Finding Emily.” (Focus Features)

Alicia MacDonald’s “Finding Emily” is a spring-bright British rom-com built on a knowingly contrived premise: a lovesick musician, Owen (Spike Fearn), is handed the wrong number for the girl he’s convinced is his perfect match. His search for her spirals into a campus-wide caper, pulling in psychology student Emily (Angourie Rice), whose thesis on romantic attachment gives the film a sly, self-aware backbone. Their dynamic — warm, lightly awkward, and unexpectedly grounded — becomes the film’s emotional engine, and both actors bring an easy charm that keeps the story buoyant even when the plot leans into farce.

MacDonald directs with a confident, playful touch, especially for a feature debut. She balances a sprawling ensemble, a handful of big comedic swings, and a gentle romantic throughline without losing the film’s sweetness. The Manchester setting adds texture, and the script’s nods to classic British rom-coms give the whole thing a nostalgic glow. Rice brings a thoughtful steadiness to Emily, while Fearn’s earnest, slightly chaotic energy keeps the film moving; Minnie Driver, Phil Wang, and Sadie Soverall add color around the edges.

Still, the film’s grand gestures can feel more engineered than organic, and the search-for-a-stranger conceit occasionally strains under its own whimsy. A few supporting turns land flat, and the story’s final flourish doesn’t quite match the breezy confidence of its setup. Yet even with its cheesy detours and moments of overreach, “Finding Emily” remains a warm, good-natured campus romance — messy in places, but hard to resist.